I was at the store yesterday shopping for Victor’s mom when I espied a display of cauliflower. Humongous heads of cauliflower. Cauliflower on steroids heads of cauliflower. For 2 bucks. I had to get one.
A head of cauliflower this size is like those huge stalks of brussels sprouts – a serious commitment for two people.
Not being commitment-shy, I grabbed one.
I think when I first saw it I thought “soup” although a dozen or two recipe ideas have filtered through the little gray cells. Au gratin to cheese sauce and everything in between…
Soup won.
But I did do a slightly different spin on it. I soaked a pound of cannelini beans last night to make a bean and cauliflower soup, because, well… gee… that 900 pound head of cauliflower definitely wouldn’t feed the two of us… (I do wonder about myself, sometimes…)
But I digress…
I actually wanted a bit more substance than mere cauliflower and I didn’t want to add a ton of cheese or cream – my two normal go-to ingredients for cauliflower soup. And that bag of cannelini beans was right there sitting on the shelf…
Cauliflower and Cannelini Bean Soup
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 links good-quality andouille sausage, diced
- 1 pound cannelini beans, cooked and drained
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 huge head cauliflower
- 1 8 oz brick light cream cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Saute onion and diced andouille until onion is translucent. Add stock and bring to boil. Add cauliflower florettes.
Cover and simmer until cauliflower is cooked and mushy.
Add drained beand and coarsely puree using an immersion blender. Make it as smooth or chunky as you like.
Add cream cheese and mix until smooth and cheese is melted.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if deseired.
The soup was t-h-i-c-k and really filling. Perfect cold-weather fare. Bread still warm from the oven finished the meal – and me.
The andouille added all the spices the soup needed. The main reason I recommend a good-quality andouille. You don’t need to add anything else. The beans (and the cream cheese) added the silkiness a plain cauliflower soup would lack, but the cauliflower flavor still came through loud and clear.
It was the best of all worlds.
So we now have soup to last us for days/weeks/months. I’m glad the freezer has been getting emptied.
Time to add a few more containers…..