Rockpool’s Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan
Cauliflower rocks. My kids love munching on little steamed florets of it and the classic gratin of cauliflower is a venerable side item to accompany any main meal. Unfortunately, half a head of cauli has been about $4 in the supermarkets and not a great deal cheaper at markets. I’m guessing this vege is pretty susceptible to insect infestation (who hasn’t bought a cauliflower that wasn’t home to those tiny bugs) so an edible crop gets pretty pricey.
It was therefore almost a shock for me to walk into Coles last week to find a whole head of cauliflower going for $1.80. Now that is a bargain worthy of Dawn French swooning over! Best of all, I didn’t feel too bad about wanting to make a soup out of cauliflower given the low price. Of course, I made sure I used a recipe worthy of my precious cauli, regardless of how cheap it was :)
I stumbled across this Rockpool recipe for Cream of Cauliflower and Parmesan Soup on the net and it sounded delicious. It appears to be a soup that is served to the fortunate folk who travel Business on Qantas. I’m not about to get that sort of upgrade any time soon but I consoled myself with a bowl of this lovely creamy soup and some homemade rolls. Bring on winter!
The recipe has been converted for the Thermomix but the above link will give instructions for stove top.
Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan
15g peeled fresh garlic cloves
150g peeled brown onion, halved
25g olive oil
25g unsalted butter
12g sea salt
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
800g cauliflower florets, roughly chopped
900ml fresh chicken stock (I used vegetable stock but 900g of water with 2 tbsp TMX stock is fine too)
50g single (pouring) cream
15g Dijon mustard, approximately
50g parmesan cheese, finely grated (approximately)
To Make: Place garlic cloves and onion in TMX bowl and blitz on Speed 6 for 5 seconds. Add oil, butter, salt and pepper to TMX bowl and sauté for 3 minutes on 100C, Speed 1. Add cauliflower and cook for another 6 minutes on 100C, Speed 1 until florets are soft and golden (the browning of the cauliflower is essential for the flavour of this soup). Add stock and cook for 10 minutes on 100C, Speed 1. Place MC over the hole and process soup on Speed 9 for 10 seconds or until very smooth. Stir in cream and half of the mustard and cheese and cook for another minute on 80C, Speed 1. If desired, add remaining mustard and cheese if the flavour is not strong enough. If soup is too thick, add more stock to give the desired consistency.
Megan:
May 28th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
I am totally making this this week!
$7 cauli or not !
Monica:
May 28th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Do. It. :)) Don’t be shy with the cheese and mustard either :D
Megan:
May 30th, 2012 at 11:27 am
I am never shy with cheese or mustard!
The cauli has been purchased
Nic@diningwithastud:
June 1st, 2012 at 9:53 am
Ok this is on my to do list this weekend! Surprisingly less fat than I expected for a restaurant soup. Looks delish :D
Monica:
June 1st, 2012 at 11:58 am
Yes! You can control the amount of cream/butter you use which is good. I find cauliflower doesn’t need so much propping up with cream anyway :)
Meg:
August 12th, 2012 at 8:19 pm
Have made this delicious recipe before owning TMX and loved it! Looking forward to trying it in my new toy now, thanks for the conversion! :)
Monica:
August 13th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
You’re welcome! You gotta love how super easy soup making becomes with a TMX :D
Ulli:
October 15th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
How don earth do you brown the cauliflower in the thermomix. I doubled the time and had it on the highest heat and it still did not happen. If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it. I am new to the thermomix and think I might not know all the tricks yet.
Monica:
October 16th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Good question and you’re certainly not the only Thermomix user out there who has wondered I am sure. The TMX does lend itself to a more ‘wet’ cooking method rather than a dry one as steam gets trapped within the bowl. One thing you can try is to get your oil for sauteeing heated up before adding ingredients so perhaps add your oil and heat on Soft for 1 minute on 100C before adding things. Also make sure you have patted your ingredients down with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. At the end of the day, this soup tastes great even if the cauliflower doesn’t get really browned.
Marie:
January 19th, 2013 at 6:08 pm
yummy just made this and it was so simple my first recipe in my new machine!
Monica:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:19 pm
Great! There are so many great things to try on the TMX. Have fun! :)
Rockpool cauliflower and parmesan soup | ChooTheFat's Thermomix Adventures:
April 28th, 2013 at 8:01 am
[...] Recipe adapted from this blogpost [...]