Creamy cauliflower soup

Recipes: Creamy cauliflower soup

This recipe gives a shout-out to Ree Drummond, who cooks and writes under the blog name The Pioneer Woman. I took her recipe, which was great, and tweaked it a bit for my tastes and for the appetites of two for dinner. It's also a nod to Autumn, and Winter which is just around the corner. Some of the things I love about Autumn and Winter, aside from warm fires and cozy sweaters, are the vegetables that grow best during this time in my climate - the cabbages, the chard, the cauliflowers, the kale. Mmmmm.

On a recent chilly evening, this soup paired beautifully with a roasted beet and butter lettuce salad.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

• A small cauliflower, or half a large one
• 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped medium
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)*
• 1 small red or yellow bell pepper, stemmed and chopped (optional)*
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour (gluten free flour also works well)
• Salt
• Grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Sour cream (or light sour cream) for serving
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

*I didn't have celery so I used a red bell pepper instead. I'd use one or the other, or both if you have them.

Cut the cauliflower in half and then half again, and cut the core out. Then roughly chop the cauliflower into 1 or 2-inch pieces. Melt one tablespoon butter in a medium heavy Dutch oven and add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, and/or bell pepper. Saute for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the chopped cauliflower and saute over medium heat until the vegetables all begin to get soft, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small heavy saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium low heat, whisking, until the flour just barely begins to get tan, 2 or 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time. You will see it gets very thick at first, but it will thin out as you keep whisking and adding milk until it has all been added. Then add the half and half. Whisk occasionally over medium heat until it gets a little thicker, about 8 minutes. This is called "making a white sauce", but don't let it scare you. It's just as easy as it sounds.

Add a tiny bit of nutmeg and the curry powder and cayenne to the white sauce. Then stir the white sauce into the soup and simmer it for a few minutes. Add salt to taste and pepper if you think it's needed.

Serve this delicious soup in bowls topped with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. Yum!

More 'tis the season for soup!: Seafood chowder

Recipe: Seafood chowder with smoked salmon and shrimp

Love the rain we're getting, but oh my, it's definitely soup season. Although it's not cold where I am compared with, for instance, winter in my original home in Minnesota, there's still a super-wet chill that seeps in through the walls and around the window frames of my 98-year-old home. Hot, luscious, nourishing soup is the answer! So warming, so comforting, so elemental. I imagine a cave thousands of years ago, a woman stirring a pot of soup over an open fire while her men-folk forage out in the cold and wet and her children, layered in fur blankets, stretch their hands toward the warming fire and dream about the good food to come. That's soup.

Believe it or not, I first got this recipe from a vegetarian cookbook, one of the early Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. Some otherwise "vegetarians" include seafood in their diets, and I guess that's why this and a few other fish recipes were included. It's really easy and is versatile in that you can include various kind of fish and shellfish, and even various vegetables. Here's the version I usually make.

Seafood Chowder with Smoked Salmon and Shrimp

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 medium red or yellow potatoes, cubed
• 1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups chicken stock, or vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, roughly chopped*
• 8 or 10 medium-to-large raw shrimp*
• 1/2 cup whole milk or half-and-half
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Lemon wedges

*Fresh salmon or any kind of white fish can be used, cut in bite-sized pieces, instead of the smoked salmon and shrimp. Be sure to remove any small bones.

In a small stockpot or medium Dutch oven, saute the onions and garlic in the butter until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, celery, and potatoes and saute gently for 5 minutes.

Add the bell pepper, stock, and herbs and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, and the salmon and shrimp and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, until the shrimp are just barely cooked.

Warm the milk slightly, in the microwave or on the stove, then stir it into the chowder. Serve garnished with parsley and lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Buon appetito!

This recipe is gluten-free.

 

'Tis the season for soup!: Split pea

Recipe: Split pea with ham (or not) soup

Cold nights, hot soup. Yum. It's a great time of year to haul out the soup pot.



 Split pea soup is a classic that's easy to make and uses common ingredients. It's also versatile! Don't want to make it with ham? Use smoked chicken or turkey instead. Want to make it vegetarian? Leave the meat out altogether. Either way, it'll be delicious and perfect in front of a roaring fire. Or snuggled up on the sofa listening to records. Or, you know, whatever you like to do on a cold winter night!

Split Pea Soup with Ham (or not)

• 1/2 pound (8 oz. or 1 cup) split green peas, picked over. Split peas often include small stones, so look them over carefully.
• 1 medium smoked ham hock, cut in two or three pieces (or smoked chicken or turkey meat)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Sea salt
• 4 cups water
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped medium
• 3 ounces deli ham or ham slice, chopped medium
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Freshly ground black pepper

Put the peas, ham hock, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and water in a medium soup pot or Dutch oven and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer, cover, and cook for about an hour, stirring now and then. Be sure to stir from the bottom of the pot so the peas don't stick.

Stir in the carrots, onions, and celery. Continue to simmer until the peas have softened and broken down so the soup is thickened, about 25 minutes.

Remove the ham hock and add the deli ham. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes. When the hock is cool enough to handle, remove any meat and add it to the soup. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Split pea soup can be made and refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. That way you could make it on a weekend and have it ready to serve during the week when you're starving and don't have time to make dinner. Double the recipe if you want to make enough for several meals. Simply reheat the soup over low heat or in the microwave, adding a little water and stirring well if it's too thick.

Split pea soup is gluten-free, and is also vegetarian if made without the ham hock and deli ham.