I’m a little bit addicted to making soup with cauliflower, as you may have gathered from looking at my Recipe Index. It’s so cheap, with all year round availability, and it’s very healthy too – an excellent source of vitamin C. This time I added broccoli (way healthy too, obviously – check out the vitamin K and vitamin C in this baby!) and some brie that I had to use up. Arthur is still sporadically averse to vegetables. It really is an intermittent thing, sometimes he wolfs them down. The sporadicalness (that’s a real word!) is a good thing, as it’s more likely to be him asserting his opinion/taste rather than a genuine dislike for them.
It’s super quick, creamy and satisfying, and my kids enjoyed it, which suggests other veg averse littlies will too. Give it a go, you might be pleasantly surprised. Oh, the pleasure we get from seeing fussy children eating vegetables… *gives self a little pat on back*.
If the cauli’ leaves are in fairly good condition then include them; they taste amazing and it’s such a shame to waste them, I only discard any damaged or discoloured ones. Plus don’t chuck the stalks on either vegetable, they have loads of flavour too – and are very fashionable at the moment. Really! It’s all about the cruciferous stalks in the restaurants! What a strange world we live in…
Serves: about 10 (freezes well)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
2 small onions or 1 large onion, diced roughly
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 head of cauliflower (plus stalks and leaves), chopped roughly into similar sized pieces
1 head of broccoli, chopped roughly (stalk included)
1l whole milk (reduce to 500ml for a thicker soup, you can always add more after)
1l light veg stock (ditto) – by ‘light’ I mean, if it’s if shop bought, only use half the recommended amount of stock to water, to avoid over saltiness
135g of brie, chopped roughly (I left rind on)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Splash of cream (I added about 5 tablespoons!)
Instructions:
- Sweat onions and garlic on a low heat in olive oil for 5-10 minutes.
- Add chopped broccoli and cauliflower, leaves and stalks too. Throw in bay leaf.
- Pour in hot stock and milk. Now simmer until the vegetables are nicely cooked, about 15-20 minutes.
- Once they are cooked, add your chopped brie. Let it melt off the heat for a few minutes.
- Whizz with a handheld soup blender or, as I do, in the jug part of a food processor.
- Pour in a splash of cream, if using, and season to taste. Dig in.
