This
soup, courtesy of Ross Dobson and his book Kitchen Seasons, is rich,
indulgent and utterly delicious – so good, that I thought it would
be rude not to share it with you and I would hate to be considered
rude! If you really want to get an idea of what this soup is like
then think fondue meets cauliflower and cheese and you will get an
idea of how amazing it is. The end result is a smooth, silky soup
that is perfect for a cold night snuggled up by the fire. All you
need to go with it is some nice crusty bread.
Serves
4-6 (book says 4, I got 6 easily)
2 tbsp
butter
1
onion, roughly chopped
1
celery stalk, chopped
1
small cauliflower (about 1kg), cut into small pieces
1.5
litres chicken or vegetable stock
250ml
double/ whipping cream
200g
gruyere cheese, grated (plus a little extra for serving)
sea
salt & freshly ground black pepper
sprinkling
of fresh parsley, chopped
Heat
the butter in a large pan until melted and bubbling. Add the onion
and celery and cook for roughly 5 minutes until softened but not
coloured. Add the cauliflower and stock and bring to the boil then
leave to gently boil for roughly 20-25 minutes until the cauliflower
is really soft and breaking up.
Leave
to cool slightly then puree in a blender in batches until silky
smooth. Return the soup to the heat and add the cream and cheese,
then cook over a low heat, stirring, until the cheese has melted
completely. Season with a little salt and pepper then taste and
adjust as necessary. Serve hot in bowls sprinkled with some extra
cheese and the parsley and enjoy with some crusty bread.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week
1 of the Cookbook Challenge
As
I reminder and to those of you that perhaps missed the original post,
on October 1st I challenged myself to a full month of
cooking using 10 cookbooks, with a minimum of 1 recipe per day (see
here for the full challenge). Here is a quick recap of how my first
week went....
Well
I managed the first week without too many problems but to be honest
this challenge is definitely a lot harder than I thought! I knew it
wasn't going to be easy – the planning and scouring the books for
recipes I wanted to try was and still is extremely time consuming and
a little overwhelming to be honest, but the biggest obstacle I'm
finding is that it's just too much food!! There are always left-overs
which is great but slowly the fridge is getting more and more filled
with Tupperware containers and we just can't keep up! Since part of
the challenge was to keep it low in cost I'm going to have to cut
back a little.... That being said I am still enjoying it – trying
lots of new recipes and reading and re-reading a variety of
cookbooks. Out of the 9 recipes I made in week 1, I haven't had any
major disasters! Perhaps a couple of recipes that I might not make
again, or if I do will have to adjust but really that's not bad
going. My favourite recipes of the 9 are both soup recipes and both
from the book Kitchen Seasons by Ross Dobson. I have also really
enjoyed the recipes from The Meat Free Mondays Cookbook and will be
cooking a third time from that book tonight. Here's hoping week 2 is
another successful week!
The Tested Recipes:
Day
1: Strawberry& Banana Smoothie
{The Meat Free Mondays Cookbook} (
big thumbs up – have already made again)
Lentil,
Chickpea, Cheddar & Onion Burgers with Winter Coleslaw
{The Meat Free Mondays Cookbook}(
thumbs up – would make again)
Day
2: Violet
Morning Smoothie {Eat
Yourself Thin Faster} (
thumbs up – will make again)
Day
3: Quinoa & Roasted Tomato Salad {MFM}(
as it is it's a miss, but it can definitely be adapted to make it
tasty so I might do that. It tasted better on the second day so I
haven't ruled it out completely!)
Cauliflower
& Gruyere Soup {Kitchen Seasons} (good
but even better the next day! It is rich and calorie laden so this
is one I would keep for a special occasion. Think fondue meets soup!
(See above for recipe.)
Day
4: Raspberry-Oat Muffins {Pretty Delicious} (easy to make,
good taste but bottoms stuck to the wrapper and texture was pretty
chewy one cooled. I'm undecided if I will try them again.)
Day
5: Carrot & Lentil Soup {Kitchen Seasons} (
fantastic! Tasted like the lentil soup my mum used to make and I
could probably have eaten the entire pot! Loved it and will be making
it all winter long!!)
Day
6: Orange-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry on Brown Rice {Pretty
Delicious} (really
good and will definitely make again. Has quite a kick to it so miss
out/cut down the amount of cayenne pepper if you don't want it
spicy.)
Day
7: Breakfast Burrito {Eat Yourself Thin Faster} (
A perfect start to the day and a slightly healthier
option as well! I loved adding the chopped chillies to the scrambled
eggs for a bit of a kick but it did mean I had to make a 2nd
spice-free version for Wee One! I also added more turkey sausage
than the recipe called for as ½ a sausage seemed ridiculous!! Anyway
it was delicious and both hubby and I really enjoyed it! I will
definitely make these again.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
