Creamy Cauliflower Soup

I’m not going to lie. Cau­li­flower stinks. A lot. I had to air out my house for sev­eral hours. But, MAN! This soup was good! Make it ahead of time, open the win­dows, and reheat it when all dan­ger of asphyx­i­a­tion has passed. Watch your salt con­tent, adjust­ing at the end, as dif­fer­ent cheeses add dif­fer­ent salti­ness lev­els. If you like cau­li­flower at all, you will love this soup–if you let all the dis­claimers deter you, don’t say I didn’t try to let you in on a great recipe!

Makes about 3 quarts

1 cube but­ter (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1 small onion–chopped

1/2 cup flour

4 cups chicken broth–low sodium

1 quart 1/2 & 1/2 (+addi­tional to thin down if desired)

1/2 tea­spoon kosher salt

1 tea­spoon chicken base (not bouillon–use a good qual­ity base with chicken as it’s first ingre­di­ent. Bet­ter Than Boul­lion is great.  Can usu­ally be found in big­ger gro­cery stores.

6 cups chopped cauliflower

4 ounces pep­per­jack cheese–grated

6 ounces white cheddar–grated

1 Table­spoon Dijon mustard

salt & pep­per to taste

Gar­nish with chopped chives

Melt the but­ter in a large, heavy saucepan.  Add the chopped shal­lots and onions. Saute until ten­der, about 5 min­utes. Add the flour and whisk together until well blended and flour taste is cooked out. This is your roux that will thicken the soup.

Add the chicken broth. Stir until well blended. Add the 1/2 & 1/2 and salt. Blend well. Add the cau­li­flower and cook on medium until cau­li­flower is ten­der, about 15 min­utes, stir­ring often.

Blend in two-cup batches in a blender using cau­tion so you don’t burn you­self with the steam.

Return to heavy saucepan and add the cheeses. Stir until melted and blended.

Add addi­tional 1/2 & 1/2 until it reaches the con­sis­tancy you like.

Add dijon mus­tard and salt & pep­per to taste.

Related posts:

• Caramelized Onions
• Oven Roasted Vegetables
• Com­pany Green Beans