ffwd: creamy cauliflower soup sans cream
As it gets cold again, soup is just the ticket. This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was both easy and elegant. In less than an hour, a pile of white and pale green vegetables are transformed into a pot of very creamy, yet creamless, creamy cauliflower soup sans cream.
You start with onions, garlic, celery, and some sprigs of fresh thyme, sautéed in some butter and olive oil. Then you add a head of cauliflower and some chicken broth and simmer until the cauliflower is tender. The soup gets pureed in a blender. I noticed a few chunks of cauliflower, so I actually strained it and reprocessed the chunks that I caught. The result is a lovely ivory soup that tastes like a mysterious potato-leek soup, except there aren’t any potatoes or leeks; it’s cauliflower!
I served this soup drizzled with some walnut oil and scattered some chopped walnuts on top. It was the perfect complement to a salad for lunch. Smaller bowls of the soup would be an elegant starter for dinner as well.
If you’d like to make this yourself, we don’t post recipes for this group, but you can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To see how the other Doristas enjoyed their soup, check out their links here.
Happy French Friday! Have a great weekend!
Posted on 7 December 2012, in French Fridays with Dorie, Soup and tagged cauliflower, French Fridays with Dorie, soup. Bookmark the permalink. 19 Comments.
Yes I need to make it next time according to the recipe – it’s intriguing! I added carrots that were wilting at the bottom of my fridge and it was a pretty orange colour but this is lovely too!
This was easy and good. Glad you liked it Betsy! Have a great weekend!
So far, all I’ve seen are glowing reviews! I love your drizzle of walnut oil :) Happy Friday, Betsy!!!
I am impressed that you went back through and strained it again – it looks like the end result was perfectly elegant.
Have a great weekend!
Beautiful soup! I love how pale and elegant it looks. Very nice.
I have some leftover soup and I’m thinking walnuts, like yours, will be another garnish to try. Looks delish!
Yummy, walnuts sound great. I love seeing all the different topping ideas this week. The recipe was pretty much a blank slate with so many options.
Beautiful! I like the walnuts and walnut oil. I too thought this would make an excellent starter.
Yes, you are absolutely right, this soup could be a cousin to the very classic potato-leek version I make every Spring. I loved this soup and made it exactly as you did – topping it with walnut oil and toasted walnuts. Although I poured it into a very rustic soup bowl, better used for french onion or garbures, it is especially suited to nice low soup bowls or small cups. I hope you are having a safe but wonderful time in Philly. I love that city.
No wonder people make the faux mashed potatoes with cauliflower! Your soup looks delicious.
I might need to try some walnut oil on my leftovers. Seems so many have enjoyed it that way. I made curried mussels to accompany mine and it was yummy.
The walnut oil sounds like a great idea. Your soup looks wonderful, so nice and
creamy. We loved it. Have a great weekend.
Your soup looks lovely and delicious. This recipe was one of my favorites. Have a great weekend.
This soup was good, wasn’t it. Like the walnut idea.
Nice! We all liked this soup, too.
I am a sucker for cauliflower! I loved this recipe! with the walnut it must taste even better – if this is possible :) have a great weekend!!!
I really enjoyed this soup, too! Yours looks perfect…so creamy! I also used walnuts to top mine along with some sour cream. Yum!
I really like the idea of drizzling walnut oil and putting walnuts it is really flavorful and so healthy.
Lovely! The walnut oil is a nice touch.