A Recipe That Ticks All The Boxes

This Sunday we had an unexpected blessing. A friend who now lives about seven hours away up the coast popped in for lunch! Normally, a friend coming over would mean a BBQ steak or chicken salad - easy to whip up, pretty, and never fails to please. However, this friend is a vegetarian. And a vegan. That's no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no cheese. I love it when I get to have her for a meal because I'm forced to think outside the square. My husband has been known to order her a pizza - with no meat and no cheese. Most women, including myself, would never even think to put a meatless, cheeseless pizza in front of a guest, no matter how good a friend! So out came the thinking cap...

This recipe is vegetarian. Without the cheese it is also vegan. It's low in fat, takes only about twenty minutes start to finish and is the most delicious, most silky, most creamy soup I've ever made. I love it! The best part? Right now cauliflower is $1.98 a head in regular supermarkets. With the other ingredients included I think I fed three people for less than $1.30 a head. How's that?

Have a look at this nutrients list:

One cup of boiled cauliflower contains

Vitamin C: 91.5% RDI

Vitamin K: 13% RDI

Folate: 13% RDI

10% RDI for each of: Vitamin B6, tryptophan, omega 3, manganese, Vitamin B5.

5% RDI for each of: Vit B1, B2, B3

And only contains 28 calories.

How great is cauliflower!

Here is the recipe. Please try it. It sounds plain, but it's actually delicious. In fact, it's so good that our guest not only had seconds, but also thirds, and finally finished up eating the last of the soup straight out of the serving dish! Now that's what I call a successful recipe :-)

Silky Cauliflower Soup
Recipe from David Lieberman

1 head cauliflower
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 c low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Remove the leaves and thick core from the cauliflower, coarsely chop, and reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened, but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the cauliflower is very soft and falling apart, about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and, using a hand held immersion blender, puree the soup, or puree in small batches in a blender and return it to the pot.

Add the Parmesan and stir until smooth. Or use 3 tbsp per bowl. Put the cheese in first, pour soup over, stir to bring out the cheese swirl.

Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Keep warm until ready to serve. 

Enjoy!