Cauliflower Soup

This cauliflower soup is smooth and creamy and you can make it as a healthy variant – without added cream or a luxury variant with cream for smoother texture and a more delicate taste. You can also try different decorations- I used pan-fried slices of cup mushrooms and a fresh parsley leaf, because I wanted to keep my soup healthy, but if you opt for the more indulgent variant, you can add one or two slices of pan-fried pancetta or bacon – delicious!

Cauliflower soup: 4-6 portions

Ingredients:

• 25g butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 small-sized cauliflower – only white parts excluding the hard stem, washed and cut into quarters
• 1.5 litre cold water
• 2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes/pots (or one portion of home-made chicken stock)
• 1 small onion
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and halved
• White pepper
• Salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium-sized cup mushrooms, washed and sliced
• Fresh parsley leaves

Optional:

• 150 ml single (or whipping) cream
• 4-6 slices smoked pancetta/bacon

Method:

On a medium to low heat, melt the butter in a large pan. Add the flour and stir until golden. Remove from the heat, add the cold water and stir well.

Put back on the hob and add the cauliflower, onion and potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer until all vegetables are soft.

Add the stock and whizz with a stick blender until smooth.

For the luxury variant, add the cream. Also, add salt and white pepper to taste.

Decorations:

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the sliced mushrooms. They need to be just in one layer, otherwise they will release water and start to boil, rather than fry. Turn once during frying, to make sure mushroom slices are golden and crispy. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Luxury variant: pan-fry the slices of pancetta/bacon until crispy.

As with all cream soups, you can add some crispy croutons on top.

Pour the soup in plates/bowls and decorate with mushroom or pancetta slices and fresh parsley leaves.

Bon appetite!