Monday, September 10, 2007

Super Soup Challenge

Super Soup Challenge is an annual event created by Tami from Running with Tweezers to honour her mother's life and love of cooking.

Lately the soups I've made have been very simply structured with many extraneous ingredients omitted to allow the main ingredient to be the focus. In keeping with that, I've turned my attention towards cauliflower and put a different spin of the standard Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup.

In many ways what I've made is a soup version of Cauliflower and BĂ©chamel Sauce and as a final touch I've frothed it up to give it almost "cappuccino" like consistency. It's creamy, it's soothing and it's comforting.

Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup©

Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup

cauliflower, cut into florets
milk
blue cheese, broken into small pieces (I used Maffra Glenmaggie Blue)
freshly ground salt and white pepper, to taste

Put the cauliflower florets into a pot and cover with milk - place on a low heat and allow to gently simmer until the cauliflower has softened.

When you can mash the cauliflower with a fork, remove the heat. Pour into a blender (or use a stick blender) to process the soup until smooth.

Strain the soup through a fine mesh sieve back into a clean pan. Return to the heat and add a few pieces of blue cheese at a time to the soup. Add as much or as little of the blue cheese as you like. If you don't like blue cheese, try using a Grana or Parmigiano.

When the cheese has melted into the soup, it is ready to serve. Do taste and if necessary, add salt and pepper - depending on the cheese used, you may find you don't need to add any additional seasoning.

Just before serving, froth the soup using a stick blender to create that light and fluffy top.

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I've served the soup in little hug bowls so you can happily wrap your hands around the bowl and sip to your hearts content.

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24 comments

  1. This soup looks delicious! I love your idea to make it frothy.

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  2. What do you know! I am half way through making (guess what) cauliflower soup; just wandered over to the computer to check bloglines. Saw your heading "Super Soup Challenge", thought 'Wouldn't it be funny if it was cauliflower soup!'

    Ahem. Yes, so. I'm off to pop a few pieces of blue cheese into my soup and eat. Thanks Haalo, it needed a lift!

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  3. This sounds so fabulous to me, what a great combination.

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  4. The creaminess of the soup looks great. Have to give this one a try!

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  5. sound very nice. wonderful combination.

    paz

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  6. We were just talking about a cauliflower soup today, and I'd never considered the use of blue cheese. I must try this.

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  7. Thanks Tara!

    Thanks Lorena - it's funny how that happens so often.

    Thanks Kalyn!

    Thanks Dennis - it's unbelievable creamy and even though I made it, I find it hard to believe there's no cream in this.

    Thanks Paz!

    Thanks Kevin - I think the English version is Cauliflower and Stilton Soup.

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  8. yum, this sounds so creamy and delicious! i love the idea of the two elements together!

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  9. Looks good. I normally see cheddar cheese used in a Cauliflower and Cheese soup. The use of a blue cheese sounds really nice.

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  10. Oh. My. Gawd. I am so-ooo going to make this as soon as the "soup chill" hits the September air here in Northern California!

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  11. Thanks Aria - I figured BĂ©chamel is just milk, butter and cornflour and it works so well with cauliflower that there's no reason why a soup with similar ingredients shouldn't taste good too.

    Thanks Kevin.

    Thanks Dolores - I hope you enjoy it!

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  12. Love those ingredients combination,I´m sure that this soap get a heavenly taste

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  13. you have such a gorgeous blog. am adding you to our blogroll, if you don't mind.

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  14. Sounds delicious. I'm sad I missed the soup challenge. ;(

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  15. Looks so wonderfully frothy and comforting. I'm still learning to like blue cheese, so can you recommend any other cheese that would work well in this recipe? Thank you.

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  16. Yum! I love cauliflower soup, and the simple combination of ingredients, paired with the blue cheese, just sounds delightful. Best of all these are all ingredients I can find in Ghana!

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  17. Just found your blog. I love the images! What are these hug bowls and where can I find them please?
    Kathryn

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  18. Thanks Sylvia.

    Thank you so much Bee, that is very lovely of you.

    Thanks Stephen - there's always next year!

    Thanks Nora - you could try a gruyere or the old favourites of grana and Parmigiano and as people have mentioned, they have used Cheddar.

    Thanks SG!

    Thanks Sally - hug bowls are just bowls your can wrap your hands around and you sip from the pointed end - they are shaped like this one here.
    The ones I used for this soup are from Minimax.

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  19. Yum! I'm bookmarking this for winter.

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  20. Thanks Sara - I hope it warms you during winter.

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  21. love those bubbles haalo!
    i agree with you, cauliflower soup is always better frothy. it adds a nice texture and lightens the flavours a bit.

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  22. Thanks Anna - you are so right, the bubbles stop it from being stodgy.

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  23. This sounds delicious but I was wondering what the actual measurements are for the ingredients...sorry but it would make it easier for me if I knew how much milk and how much cauliflower. Thanks! Looking forward to making it.

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  24. Anon - this is the kind of soup where you don't measure - make as much or as little as you like. The amount of milk needed is governed by how much cauliflower you use - just use enough milk to cover the florets and that's it.

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