Roasted Cauliflower and Cheese Soup

Apr 27, 2015 | Food, Life

I had always enjoyed soup, it didn’t even need to be winter before I found myself reaching for a good soup option either as a starter or a light meal at the end of a busy day.

While visiting Tassie recently two different but really tasty soups found their way onto my radar, when I arrived at my favourite cafe Purple Possum in St Marys they had been working on a Thai Pumpkin Soup which smelled wonderful and offered a hint of lemongrass and other Asian spices to add a little something extra to the home grown pumpkins they are currently getting from a local gardener.

I had eaten a Thai Pumpkin soup previously and the extra flavour(s) sure did give the often plain taste of pumpkin a lift.

Today I am writing about the other soup that has been popping up around the place, Roasted Cauliflower and Cheese Soup.

roasted-cauliflower-soupThis amazing soup takes advantage of a sometimes overlooked vegetable and combines it with the sharp bite of a great cheddar or blue cheese and is certainly not going to disappoint.

So the official title of this post (and more importantly) the soup is Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Aged Cheddar and Bacon – after tasting a couple of these and being teased by several others I set about to find a recipe that would quickly turn a somewhat bland vegetable into a rich, creamy soup to be proud of. I’ve combined the best parts of several recipes and (somewhat) made it my own. It’s really simple and even though I have included ingredients and a method below you really can’t go wrong, feel free to play around with this and add your own touches.

UPDATE: I’ve also been making this soup in my soup maker using this recipe which works really well too.

Ingredients
  • 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 6 rashers of (quality) bacon
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 cup aged cheddar cheese, grated
  • 750 ml chicken stock
  • 250 ml cream
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
  • salt and pepper
Method
  1. Heat your oven to 180°C, lightly toss the cauliflower florets with the olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Spread the florets out on an oven tray and roast for about 20 minutes, until they start to brown and have softened.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a frypan on the stove top. Remove the bacon when crisp, and drain on some paper towels. Add the chopped onion to the frypan and cook for about 5 minutes until the onion softens.
  3. Add the garlic and thyme to the onions, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  4. Scrape the onion/garlic mixture into a large saucepan.
  5. When the cauliflower is done, place the florets in the saucepan with the onions and garlic. Add the stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat. Let the soup simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, prepare your toasts. Slice up some crusty bread, lay it on an oven tray and brush each slice with some olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
  7. After 20 minutes, puree the soup using an stick blender.
  8. Stir in the cheese, stirring until melted completely.
  9. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Toast the bread slices in the oven for just a couple of minutes, until they start to brown a bit.
  11. Serve the soup with the toast slices and sprinkle each bowl of soup with bacon pieces.