What's Cooking Wednesday - Cream of Cauliflower and Cheddar soup

What do you do when your Mother leaves a head (is it a head? or a bunch? or maybe it's just cauliflower?) of cauliflower in your fridge? Well if your me you think to yourself I must use that cauliflower. Then you leave it sitting in the fridge for a week or two and every time you open the door you think, damn I better use that cauliflower. Pretty soon even fate can't take it anymore and gently directs you to a super easy cauliflower and cheese soup recipe. If you're really lucky you'll have a husband who bitches whines complains gently suggests that perhaps he may not like cauliflower soup. He may even go so far as to suggest to his mother, right in front of you I might add, that he's not expecting much from dinner. After which he should consider himself lucky to live to see dinner.



Cream of Cauliflower and Cheddar Soup

2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cups coarsely chopped cauliflower
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
croutons
parsley, chopped

Melt butter in a large saucepan; saute onion until tender. Stir in cauliflower and broth. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 12 - 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Smoothly combine flour and milk. Add to saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into 4 soup bowls; sprinkle with croutons and parsley.

Recipe Notes: Well you can't be married to a man for over ten years and not learn a little something about his tastes. So to ensure I hit one out of the park with this recipe a chopped up a couple of slices of bacon and sauted it with the onions. It really gave the soup a nice hint of smokiness. I also reserved some of the cheese (I used old cheddar) to sprinkle on top of the croutons which were garlic flavoured. I finished the whole thing off with a bit of fresh ground pepper. I served some slices of crusty bread on the side. 5/5

Oh my Lord was this good. Mike had one spoonful and his eyes rolled back in his head. This, folks, was a grand slam. Abby tried the smallest taste off my spoon and declared it yummy, but she also refused to eat any more of it on the off chance it may "make her sick". You can never be too careful these days I guess. Maya on the other hand couldn't gobble it up quick enough.

Still hungry?

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