Cauliflower and dolcelatte soup

Cauliflowers are an unfairly ignored vegetable. But I don’t know why. They’re not as sexy as tenderstem broccoli, as exotic as sweet potatoes, as sexy as asparagus – but they are just as good. To be fair, they are having a renaissance at the moment, but only in fashionable food blogger land – people are roasting them like you would a chicken, which is music to my ears. Must try that. Anyway my point is this: don’t forget them.

Available all year round, they are cheap and plentiful – and make perfect soup fodder. It’s a bit obvious to pair cauli with cheese, I know, but have you tried it with dolcelatte? It’s a softish, fairly mild (as blues go) blue cheese. I didn’t go overboard, as I had my kids in mind. My 1 year old daughter goes mad for this, as the blue taste is quite mild. I mean, she’s crazy for it. The salty blue essence is there, but not overpowering. It freezes so well too, just got some out for lunch. (Made it last week, I’m on catch up again!)

I kicked myself for mot keeping aside some dolcelatte to crumble on top, which would have been a lovely finish.

To make a large amount, enough for 6-8 people:
1 large cauliflower, cut into rough sixths or so, with leaves and stalks included too
100g dolcelatte cheese
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 pint whole milk
1/2 – 1 pint light veg stock (if using commercial stock I advise halving amount of stock to water) – use more / less depending on how thick you want your soup
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

• Gently soften your onion and garlic for 10-15 minutes or so in a glug of olive oil. Don’t allow them to colour. 
• Chop your cauli up. Save as much of the leaves as you can, cutting out the large tough stalks but including the smaller ones as they have so much flavour. Add to the pan. 
• Pour in your milk and hot stock. Let it come to the boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the cauliflower is nicely cooked but not overcooked. 
• Add your cheese, in cubes. 
• Let it melt, just. Now blend with a hand blender or a soup blender. 
• Drizzle with oil to serve and if you remembered to save some, crumble a little cheese on top.