A delicious soup

The other night I made this cauliflower and cheddar soup from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food recipe book. It turned out very delicious, which was exciting as it was my first time making it and there were a few hiccups along the way.

Turns out making soup for a serving size of 6-8 does not fit into one pot (when that pot is meant to hold a max of 7 litres). So I did my best to divide the chopped carrots, celery, shallots, and cauliflower (which I had already combined in a mixing bowl) into 2 ‘large’ pots. Apparently I need a bigger pot!

As I was heating the veg in the pots, the newer pot that’s supposedly non-stick ended up burning part of the vegetables on the bottom of the pan. And when I poured in the chicken broth it turned the colour of the soup in this particular pot a very dark amber. Not so much a Guinness colour, but maybe a dark beer colour. The other – cheaper- pot fared much better!

When it came to adding the Dijon mustard, cheese and then blending them, I realised I did not have a hand blender. But I had a full blender and poured one pot in at a time and it did the job stunningly!

The only issue was the blender was VERY full and I feared that it might start bubbling over. Thankfully, with my quick thinking, I held the top of the blender with a rag and kept it from spilling over. Although taking off the top was tricky as the soup was to the tipity top and did splash when it was cocked to one side to get a good grip to pull it off.

I cozied up on the couch with Fatty, after topping my soup with some recently cooked bacon bits and throwing together a quick baby spinach salad, and turned on the TV to the new season of Project Runway.

The soup was creamy and thick, and tasted of fresh vegetables. The cauliflower wasn’t overpowering, but was definitely a great compliment to the carrots and celery. Very filling as well, this was good since I was having it for my dinner! I’m not sure what the fat/calories were in this, but seeing as I made it from scratch and it included fresh veg and chicken stock, I imagine it was relatively healthy – despite the cheese.

I would highly recommend this soup as a starter, lunch or even a main any day!