Delicious, creamy, Roasted Cauliflower Soup packed with nutrients and an incredibly gorgeous, caramelized cauliflower flavour. Easy to make, blended to smooth perfection, dairy free and wholesome light meal perfect with crusty bread!
800gcauliflower florets(1 medium head of cauliflower)
½teaspoonflaky salt
¼teaspooncrushed black pepper
2tablespoonsolive oil
For the soup
1tablespoonolive oil
1bay leaf
1yellow onionpeeled and diced
3garlic clovespeeled and smashed
750mlvegetable stock
¼teaspoonporcini mushroom powder
1tablespoonchopped chivesto serve
1tablespoonmelted butterto serve
Crushed black pepperto serve
Instructions
Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced) / 428°F (392°F fan-forced).
Spread cauliflower florets on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil and mix and rub the florets to ensure they are coated with the oil.
Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot on medium-low.
Add bay leaf, onion and garlic. Sauté for 8-10 minutes until onion are soft and starting to caramelize.
Reserve 2-4 roasted cauliflower florets for garnish and add the rest to the pot. Add vegetable stock and porcini mushroom powder and mix well. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and carefully ladle into a heat-proof blender jug and blend until smooth.
Ladle in two soup bowls. Drizzle with melted butter. Add reserved roasted cauliflower florets as garnish. Sprinkle with chives, extra black pepper and serve hot with crusty bread.
Notes
Cauliflower - Use fresh, firm cauliflower for this recipe. And make sure you roast it for the said amount of time for that beautiful, rich, caramelized cauliflower flavour. When cutting florets for roasting, I cut them into thick slabs (mini steaks). This creates more surface area for the cauliflower florets to lie flat on while roasting. This in turn creates more caramelized bits. These flatter roasted florets also make beautiful garnishes.
Onion - Use yellow/brown onion if possible. This adds a lovely sweetness to the recipe. Red onion or leeks are good substitutes.
Garlic - Use big cloves. Peel and smash them before adding to the pan. If you don't have fresh garlic, you can substitute it with garlic granules or garlic powder. You will roughly need 1 teaspoon. Add this at the end of the onion frying phase, just before you add cauliflower. This prevents the garlic granules or powder from burning and becoming bitter.
Vegetable Stock - I use salt-reduced vegetable stock as there is already salt in the roasted cauliflower. This helps keep the sodium levels of the soup in check. If your stock is not salt-reduced, skip salting the cauliflower before roasting.
Porcini mushroom powder - This is available in all supermarket spice aisles and is a great way of boosting the umami flavour of this roasted cauliflower soup. It gives it a truffle-like rich and luxurious flavour. If you can't find it, leave it out or substitute with a tablespoon of dried porcini mushrooms.
Storage - Fully cooked soup stays fresh in the fridge for up to two days.
Freezing - Soup can be frozen in a freezer-safe, air-tight container (after cooling completely). It keeps in the freezer for up to a month. To eat, thaw in the microwave and add an extra quarter cup of vegetable stock to loosen it.