Sharmila on Food

Cauliflower and almond soup

I have a love/hate relationship with soup.  I often get bursts of wanting something warming, soothing and easy to eat.  However, I can’t say I’m a lover of soup (save for noodle soup - another matter entirely).  The amount of times I’ve packed some homemade soup for my lunch at work, got to lunchtime, and gone “eh”, is high.  However, I can say that I do love this soup.  Cauliflower and almond.  It has a ton of melty cheese in it too.  And some nutmeg.  And it was crowned with a load of bacon bits.  This is a soup I can get behind.

It also tastes great - a bit like the most lovely cauliflower cheese in creamy liquid form.  The ground almonds give a rich creaminess to the soup that saves having to add cream or creme fraiche. I  used a romanesco cauliflower for this because I had one to hand.  However, a normal cauli would work just as well.  Though you won’t get the pleasure of marvelling at one of the most amazing looking vegetables there is.  Now if that doesn’t reinforce the beauty of maths (or something) in nature, I don’t know what does.

I served this up alongside some cheese on toast for dipping.  Whilst not essential, I’m sure you can agree it is a very very sound addition.

Cauliflower and almond soup (avec ton of cheese)

Serves 4-6 (depending on how greedy you are)

25g butter (or olive oil if you’re being healthy)

1 medium-large cauliflower, broken into florets

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

pinch of grated nutmeg

1tsp dijon mustard

1tsp English mustard

100g strong, melty cheese, grated (I used Appenzeller - a strong cheddar, Gruyere or Emmenthal would also work well)

2tbsp ground almonds

1. Melt the butter in a large, deep saucepan on a medium heat.  When hot, add the onion and garlic, and sweat until softened, but avoid browning.

2. Whilst the onions are cooking, boil the cauliflower in approximately 850ml of water until almost tender.

3. Add the bay leaves to the onions and garlic, and then add the cauliflower and its cooking water to the pan.  Bring to the boil, then simmer until the vegetables are fully cooked and soft.

4. Remove from the heat, fish out the bay leaves and either blitz the soup in a blender, or (as I did), use a stick blender, until the soup is completely smooth.

5. Return to the heat, add the mustards, the almonds and the cheese.  Heat slowly until all is combined and hot.  Add a grating of nutmeg, season to taste and serve.  Add optional bacon and dig in.