Thursday, January 10, 2019

Creamy "Cheese" Cauliflower Soup (Almost No Added Fat)

Recently we stopped by Living Kitchen, a very nice vegan and (subject to ingredient availability) organic restaurant, and had a tasty thick cauliflower soup. I picked up a head of cauliflower today and decided to try making a similar soup. I had made a cauliflower soup back in February 2011 that was good but I wanted to better it.

I found a roasted cauliflower soup recipe from a very nice site by a woman named Jessica and it looked great. The key ideas were to roast cauliflower, coated in a little olive oil and along with garlic cloves, at  450°F for 15m, then blend with sauteed onion.

I made a few changes; I used the convection ("air bake") function on my air fryer toaster oven which cooks faster and went with 400°F for 15m, instead of using oil, I mixed in Coconut Secret brand coconut aminos garlic sauce (soy sauce or their normal coconut aminos would have been fine), and I used oregano instead of thyme.  I didn't have any bouillon cubes on hand or broth, so I used filtered water and just a few (maybe 5) raw cashews for creaminess and thickness. I had sauteed the onion in a cast iron pan and then mixed all the ingredients in my Vitamix blender - including some nutritional yeast. As Jessica suggested, I saved a few pieces of roasted cauliflower and added atop the soup.

Here is a copy of the original recipe from Jessica's site.





INGREDIENTS
Roasted Cauliflower Soup - Vegan, Incredibly Easy
  • 1 large head cauliflower, de-stemmed and florets broken up
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 5 cloves garlic, smashed with skins still on
  • 1/2 large vidalia onion
  • 2-3 sprigs thyme, stems removed
  • 4 1/2 cups vegetable broth

Roasted Cauliflower Soup - Vegan, Incredibly Easy
  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
  • Add the cauliflower to the baking sheet and 1 tablespoon olive oil, about ½ teaspoon salt and grind some pepper over it all. Using your hands, mixing it all in, massaging the ingredients into the cauliflower. Add the smashed garlic (skins still on) on the baking sheet. The skins help to prevent it burning; you'll remove thee afterwards. Roast for 15 minutes. I like to reserve a few pieces after roasting to top the soup with.
  • Meanwhile, in a large high sided pot over medium high heat, sauté the onions in the ½ tablespoon olive oil until fragrant and browning, about 8 minutes, stirring infrequently.
  • Add the roasted cauliflower, the garlic (skins remove), 2 sprigs of thyme and vegetable broth. Mix together with spatula.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir once more. If using an immersion blender, blend the soup together. If using a high powered blender, let cool slightly and add slowly to blender. Press the "soup" setting or blend on high until soup is thoroughly mixed and incorporated, at least 1 minute. Be careful that your soup is not too hot to crack your blender. Taste and salt and pepper to taste.
  • Pour into bowls and top optionally with extra cauliflower, crushed red peppers, extra thyme and a drizzle of coconut milk. Enjoy!


I'm glad that I found this recipe and this site! I also made some quinoa cooked with chopped broccoli stalk and with tofu (the tofu wasn't for my wife).

Results

The soup was excellent! I loved the flavor and consistency. It's a winner!

Ideas for the future

I share Jessica's enthusiasm about roasted cauliflower. My toaster oven is fast and I think I could have baked for maybe 10m instead of 15m. I should also try other cauliflower soups maybe with kale or broccoli.

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