Wednesday 6 June 2012

Wintry days.....


Wintry days are for:

  • staying inside
  • wearing PJ's all day
  • laughing
  • watching old movies
  • finding rainbows
  • soaking in hot baths
  • wearing a different pair of tights from my collection every day
  • cuddling someone you love
  • reading in bed
  • cooking soup


GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S CAULIFLOWER & FENNEL SOUP:
Soup is so hard to beat as the ultimate Winter comfort food.
Soup fills your tummy and gives your body a great big squeezy hug.
I love Cauliflower.
I think it gets a hard time as a vegetable though.
Lots of people think it is a little bland.
I LOVE to roast it and serve it with a generous squeeze of lemon & loads of parsley.
But another great way to serve it is as Soup.
This one is SUPER EASY & has another of my fave flavours added to it for a bit of pizzazz- Fennel.
I love to make a big batch of soup for the kids to come home to after school on these Wintry days  and then they pack it in a Thermos for lunch at school the next day too!
I topped mine with a Chorizo & Sourdough crumble (instructions at end of recipe) but you can omit this to make it entirely Vego.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

  • 1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets (don't waste the stalk, chop that too!)
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 shallots, finely diced
  • 30g butter
  • 1 litre of stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
  • S & P
  • 1/2 cup of cream
METHOD:

Heat a pan on stovetop to medium.

Add butter, shallots & garlic.  Fry for a couple of minutes until translucent.   Then add the ground Fennel.

Now add the cauliflower florets & the stock and bring to boil.

Cook till Cauliflower is soft.

Take off heat and add cream.

Check seasoning & blitz till creamy and smooth.

Serve with crusty Sourdough toast.

(NB: I added a crunchy Sourdough & Chorizo crumble to mine. To make this finely chop 1/4 chorizo sausage & a slice of sourdough bread-crusts removed. Add to a dry nonstick frypan on a medium heat. The oils in the Chorizo will release and the bread will soak them up and crisp up at the same time. Fry for about 6-7minutes or until crunchy and smelling Gorgeous! OMG YUM!!!!)



As the air goes cold....and the trees unfold.....

10 comments:

  1. Thank you Ruth.
    I am going to try this - where do you get ground fennel ?
    The crumble sounds equally delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will find Ground Fennel in the spice section of your supermarket. Or use Fennel seeds & grind them in a mortar pestle. Good green grocers or Asian grocers are another good source for spices

      Delete
  2. mmmm...! printed. And will now make! Thanks lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Definitely one to try, but yes I've never seen ground fennel before. G.x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cant wait to try. Looks amazing ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I couldn't stand it any more. After seeing your awesome food pictures on Instagram I had to come on over and find your blog! So glad I did! N x

    ReplyDelete
  6. I made the soup last night - and it was fantastic. A big hit with the family. The sausage/breadcrumbs crumble was a lovely addition. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. HOW GOOD IS ROASTED CAULIFLOWER! I loooove soup so much too. I think I'll break the budget and get some this week - it's too delicious at this time of year :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just saw your gnocchi over at Baby Mac - yes sir E. Cold in Melbourne today. So of course Im making ice cream....
    Trish xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love roasted cauliflower too! but have never made cauliflower soup, am going to make it this week, the chorizo crumble sounds delicious! Thanks Ruth. xx j

    ReplyDelete

Thankyou SO VERY much for making time to comment.

I LOVE to read your comments.

Just know that it totally made my day that you made a comment on my blog :)
xxx