Creamy Cauliflower Soup

The cauliflower: another lovely - yet often snubbed or underrated - vegetable that starts to pop up at the Farmer's Market this time of year.  Two weeks ago, I bought a cauliflower and roasted it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Pecorino Romano cheese (similar method in recipe below), and it was delicious!  The sad part: I made the dish to bring to a dinner party.  Alas, I only got a small serving and found myself craving more.  The next week, I went right back to the booth selling these fantastic cauliflower and bought a second one.  While this one was slightly smaller, it was incredibly dense and yielded plenty of cauliflower-goodness.  Because it's soup season, I decided to turn this cauliflower into a creamy soup, still using the same roasting technique as the week before.  With a couple of warm, savory spices and lots of garlic, this soup is the perfect pick me up to a cold winter day...well it's not winter yet, but today it's around 34 degrees Fahrenheit, so I basically consider myself to be roughing winter already...and yet I resist taking my winter boots out of storage.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower, about 2 pounds, cut into florets
• olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (parmesan would be a fine substitute)
• half an onion, chopped
• 1 huge clove of garlic, or 2 normal sized ones, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, copped
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/4 tsp dried tarragon
• 1 bay leaf
• 3-4 cups of vegetable broth (or a combination of vegetable broth and water)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets generously with olive oil.  Spread the florets onto a baking sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Roast the cauliflower for 30-40 minutes, flipping them every 10 minutes, until tender and lightly golden brown.
4. Remove the cauliflower from the oven, sprinkle on the Pecorino Romano, and then return the cauliflower to the oven for 2 minutes.
5. Once done, set the cauliflower aside.
6. In a large pot, heat some olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and some salt.  Cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring often, until the onion is translucent.  Add in the garlic and carrots.  Allow to cook for another 5 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often.
7. Add the roasted cauliflower, thyme, sage, tarragon, and bay leaf to the pot.  Add in enough vegetable broth (and/or water) to cover all the veggies.  I didn't measure precisely here, but 3-4 cups is a good estimate; I used about a 2:1 ratio of broth to water.  Stir well.
8. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.  Allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes until the carrots are tender.  Turn off the heat
9. Cover the pot and let it sit on the stove (no heat!) for a few hours until it has cooled a bit.  This will also help give the flavors more time to marry.
10. Remove the bay leaf (don't forget!!).  Transfer the contents of the pot to a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender.  Blend the soup to your desired consistency.  Taste and add more salt/pepper, spices, or broth/water if necessary until you get the product you want!
11. Reheat and serve warm, perhaps with a lovely piece of toast and cheese!

Yes, this photoshoot happened on my fire escape...it was the only place I could get some good natural light without actually having to leave the house and go outside in the frigid cold!  Artsy, no?

Reserve a few pieces of roasted cauliflower for a simple yet elegant garnish!

I bought a large bag of sprouts from the Farmer's Market last week; I can't remember what kind of seeds they were exactly, but it wasn't your boring old alfalfa.  The man who sold me the sprouts recommended I try adding them to soups as a garnish at the end.  This was a fantastic suggestion!  Those spouts are wonderful atop this cauliflower soup, adding a little crunch and freshness.  ...and now I just add sprouts to everything I eat...