Cauliflower Soup | Common Room

For F3: Episode 3 we decided to warm up with some Cauliflower soup using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen!
Check out how we made it our own!

Melissa’s Nutritional Tidbit: There are a variety of ways to eat your cauliflower, soup being one of them. It’s best to eat cauliflower soup hot or very warm (or most vegetable soups for that matter). Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous family (along with many other vegetables, including broccoli and brussel sprouts). They are known to have anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties, making them nutritional superstars. They also contain vitamins A, C, K, folate, and fiber. They really pack a punch! Enjoy cauliflower along with all of its cousins to attain all they have to offer.

Sylvia:

Expertise: Advanced

Ease: Super simple. All that’s required is a knife, cutting board, pot, and blender. There’s no fancy footwork necessary in this recipe. Anyone with basic knife skills can cut a cauliflower. I used an immersion blender to purée with soup, so I used a slightly larger pot than necessary. My favorite thing about this recipe is that I can walk away from it! There’s no strict times or temperatures to keep track of.

Customizing: So many possibilities. I roasted the cauliflower florets before boiling to add an extra depth of flavor. This step can be done the day before. Frozen cauliflower also works well, making this a pantry/freezer staple. I’m pretty fussy with my soup, in that I like textural contrast. I made a quick thyme scented mushroom topping to add another level of flavor and texture. Candied nuts would work well, as would flash fried herbs, frico, or crumbled hard boiled egg.

Repeatability: Definitely! Relatively inexpensive to make, quick to throw together, and virtually hands off. A winner in my book! Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables. It’s easy to find, relatively expensive, and it’s subtle nutty flavor works well with almost any seasoning. I make cauliflower soup often since its so simple to put together.

Sophie:

Expertise: Intermediate (although I’ve never made cold soup before)
Ease: It’s pretty easy to do, hard to go wrong.
Customizing: 4 words: Cold soup is gross. I do not recommend serving this soup cold. It’s summer time where I am and to say it’s hot outside is an understatement. The show hosts and I thought it would be a fun experiment to have me try out cold soup, so that they could make a soup recipe since it’s freezing cold in North America. I’ve had plenty of warm cauliflower soup recipes before that didn’t vary too much from the recipe we tried this week and they’ve all been delicious but there was something particularly inedible about this soup once I had chilled it. I have a feeling that if I had left the cauliflower a little rougher and not allowed it to mush quite as much, it would have been an okay cold soup.
Repeatability: I really enjoy Cauliflower soup in winter time so when it gets warmer I definitely think I’m going to try out the recipe the way it was intended to be served.

Hadas:

Expertise: Intermediate, soups are easy, but sometimes I burn the onions :/
Ease: Pretty easy your second time making this kind of soup.
Customizing: So many ways to customize, but I added the Yemenite spice Hawaiij, which I’m told is relatively similar to garam masala. I made this soup one more time before the show and thought I’d get fancy by adding dried Rosemary sprigs. BAD IDEA. It ruined this incredible soup and made me sadface. Don’t do it!
Repeatability: It’s pretty easy to make, but it kind of clogs my freezer and I forget to reheat it so I’ll definitely make it again, but only when I’m sniffly or the weather encourages me to eat something warm.

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