Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Cauliflower has been cultivated around the Mediterranean and Asia since the 1500’s, but only became popular in North America in the 1900’s. The smaller the cauliflower, the sweeter it is.
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
This is a hearty, mildly flavored soup. It’s easily halved if you have leftover roasted cauliflower. A lot of people either like cauliflower or don’t. If you do, this soup is worth a try in the fall or winter when the weather cools.
Ingredients
- 1 medium large head cauliflower (about 750 grams before trimmed, 645 gr after stems removed. 500 grams after roasted)
- 2 cups (240 gr) Yellow onion, chopped.
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 1 TBSP Butter
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 2 TBSP fresh thyme
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup (125 ml) 2% milk
- 2 cups (150 gr) grated Cheddar cheese
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- Garnish few roasted flowerets bacon and/or thyme
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 400 and remove stems from cauliflower. Drizzle 2 TBSP oil and ½ tsp Kosher salt over cauliflower and mix to coat. Roast in oven for 20 minutes, until cauliflower is golden, and some edges are browned.
- Meanwhile melt butter and add chopped onion in sauce pan and sauté until onion is translucent but not browned.
- When cauliflower is done roasting, add to sauce pan. Along with chicken stock and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer (with lid almost fully covering pot) for 30 minutes.
- Blend until smooth in 4 batches.
- Return soup to pot, add milk, and add cheese one handful at a time, stirring to incorporate, while heating again. Add salt and pepper and serve.
- *You may have to adjust heat bit by bit so that stock continues to simmer but not boil the stock away. When finished on the stove top the stock should be marginally less than what you started with. I speak from experience, I’ve boiled away the stock at medium heat and had cauliflower stew, not soup.
Notes
This fall and winter soup screams for an unoaked, dry Chardonnay and that is exactly what paired beautifully. We have yet to find a red we would recommend. We can tell you to stay away from the big reds like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Because we usually serve this soup in a small bowl as a dinner appetizer or part of lunch, even those not generally fond of Chardonnay will hopefully enjoy the experience. Otherwise try a blend with some Chardonnay.
We’ve paired:
- Sterling Vineyards Chardonnay
- Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay
- Le Vieux Pin “Petit Blanc” 2019, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Unoaked Chardonnay