Romanesco Cream Soup

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It is officially soup season and I am constantly going between 2 major what-to-eat-moods. Soup or salad. Salad or soup. Soup, because it is freezing outside and cup of warm yummy soup of any kind unfreezes my toes and makes my cold cheeks happy. And salad, because I am constantly craving fresh, crisp veggies that remind me of the summer and my favorite farmers market, which are almost gone now. Once in a while the salad will win over my heart and I will eat it in a typical fashion of mine – a few days on a row. But then a teeny-tiny voice starts whispering “Soup...warm, cozy soup”, and I can’t resist it, I have to make it.

It has been a couple of years now since I discovered this wonderful green giant, the Romanesco broccoli/cauliflower. And I have been in love with its mild cabbage flavor (much milder than broccoli or cauliflower in my opinion) and how lush and creamy it becomes when made into cream soup. So when I saw it at my late fall farmers market, I grabbed a few and decided to treat myself to a soup. Usually, I will make a simple cream soup with it by adding potatoes, onion and cream for thickness and texture, but this time I had leek, a couple of zucchinis and some pea shoots in my kitchen, so I decided to experiment and add them to the soup as well. The result was a lush, silky soup that had a complex flavor, much more complex than when adding potato or onion only. The addition of zucchini made it extra smooth and the pea shoots added some spring freshness and a beautiful green color. If you don’t have or don’t like zucchini or pea shoots, you can skip them, but I am quite sure that if you added them to your soup, they might become your favorite ingredients for any cream soup :)

So, here you have it, my latest soup obsession... The salad recipe is to come next ;)

I also wonder what seasonal or all-time cravings do you have? Mom, if you are reading this, I know about your feta cheese toast for dinner every night of the week craving. 

xoxo

Romanesco Cream Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients
• 1 medium to large Romanesco
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large leek, white part only, thinly sliced
• 2 small (or 1 large) zucchinis, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 medium (any kind) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4-5 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock (low-sodium store bought works too)
• 1 cup of pea shoots (optional) + more for serving
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 whole milk (optional) 
• salt + pepper

Directions:

1. Wash Romanesco and separate the florets into about 2-inch chunks. The stems can be peeled with a paring knife, removing the stringy exterior and added to the flowerets. Place all in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a large pot heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and add the leeks. Sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until soft. Add the remaining olive oil, the potatoes and the zucchinis. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes until the potatoes start to stick to the bottom of pot (but are not burning). At this point, add the chicken/vegetable stock, the Romanesco and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Add the pea shots, if using, and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

3. With an immersion or a standard blender set on low speed blend the soup until no large chunks are present. Increase the speed and blend until really smooth and creamy. Add the butter and the Parmesan cheese and blend until smooth. Taste the soup and if you prefer it creamier, add the whole milk and blend for 10 more seconds. Taste for salt and pepper and add if needed.

4. Ladle soup into bowls, top with a few fresh pea shoots (if using) or freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower with Za'atar and Lemon

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As a child I was obsessed with cauliflower. It was this rare and somehow special and magical vegetable that would come in the fall and will be around for a little bit and then it will disappear, in the same magical way as it appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. I never heard of anyone growing cauliflower, my family didn’t grow cauliflower, I didn’t see any crops of cauliflower and then, boom – out of nowhere, cauliflower shows up at the farmers market for a few days and then it will be gone. How strangely magical I thought. How I loved the cauliflower crunchiness. And how I wanted to eat it all the time. As you are reading this, perhaps you might be thinking that this itself it the strangest story ever, especially if you live in the United States and cauliflower is available all year around and it is as common as bagged lettuce. But you see, it was not like that in Bulgaria when I was a kid. I would only see cauliflower in the fall when my father would bring it home, from the market, in big plastic bags He will then wash it and separate the flowerets, sitting on his chair by the kitchen sink whistling to some traditional Bulgarian song (or a German marching song!), piling the cauliflower florets in a big bowl and happily popping some of them in his mouth. I remember standing by him, all mesmerized by this strange, flower-shaped vegetable and impatiently waiting for him to hand me a floret or a center of a cauliflower stem so I can taste this crunchy, nutty and cabaggelike goodness. I thought that this was the coolest vegetable ever and I couldn’t wait for my father to finish making the winter Giardiniera – the only way I remember Bulgarians from my childhood eating cauliflower.

Then I moved to United States, to what it seemed to me, to be the cauliflower paradise. Cauliflower everywhere. And all the time! Then I tried some of the conventional (or shall we say, food industry) ways of eating cauliflower; boiled, steamed, tasteless and mushy, and I thought to myself that Bulgarians might have been right all along, that the only way to enjoy cauliflower is in the fall and only marinated in Giardiniera. And my love affair with this vegetable started to slowly fall apart, with the exception of occasional cream of cauliflower soup or cauliflower mash. Then, one day, at a restaurant, whose name I don’t remember, I had a warm cauliflower side dish and I was blown away. The cauliflower was cooked, but not over-cooked, and it was deliciously nutty and semi-crunchy, slightly charred and tossed with lemon rind and Parmesan. I ate the whole thing. And I kept thinking about this cauliflower in the days to follow and I was on a mission to recreate the dish. Night after night I will cook and eat cauliflower, until I got the recipe to my taste. And in the process of the eating and cooking and eating, eating, eating my beloved cauliflower and I got reunited.

I took notes of the cauliflower as I remembered it and I have adapted and changed the recipe over time to my taste. I don’t grill the cauliflower (simply because I don’t have a grill) and to achieve its smoky blackened exterior, I cook it in a nicely heated pan where at the end I add a teaspoon of smoked mushroom butter. If you like your cauliflower softer and especially if you have to make it for a large crowd, pop it in the oven on a baking sheet at 425F for 30 min. It still would be quite delicious.

As people say – true love never dies. So go into your kitchen, pour yourself a glass of wine and make something that you love with all of your heart.

xoxo

Ingredients:

Serves 4 (as a side dish)

Ingredients:
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp Panko bread crumbs
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small cauliflower, torn or cut in 1-inch florets
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp smoked mushroom butter (or 1 tsp smoked paprika)
• 1 tbsp Za’atar spice (recipe below) (or store bought)
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Za’atar Spice
Combine 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp fresh (or dry) thyme leaves and 1 tbsp sumac. Store in an airtight container (if the thyme is fresh let the container open for 2-3 days so the thyme dries). 

Directions:

1. Grate and juice the lemon, place in separate bowls and set aside.

2. Melt the plain butter in a large non-stick pan, add the bread crumbs and toast until golden-brown, about 30 sec. Set aside in a bowl.

3. Return the non-stick skillet to the stove, heat it very well on high heat. When nice and hot, add the olive oil, the cauliflower and the salt. Stir well to coat the florets evenly, lower the heat to a medium-high and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown without disturbing. Turn (or stir) the florets on the other side and cook for additional 2-3 minutes, until nice and brown (the more charred on the sides tastier they will be). Add the red pepper flakes and the smoked butter (or smoked paprika) and cook for additional minute.

4. Place the cooked cauliflower in a large bowl, add the lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, the Za’atar spice, bread crumbs, Parmesan and the parsley. Mix well to combine. Taste and add more lemon juice, Za’atar spice or seasoning if needed.

Plate and enjoy.

Tip: This is a wonderful side to poached eggs or roasted chicken. Make a rice bowl of it by adding cooked grains, avocado, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and a spoonful of yogurt tahini.

Cream of cauliflower soup

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I was a really picky eater when I was a child. Texture for me was a big thing and if I found something to be with unpleasant texture, no matter how yummy the taste, I will refuse to eat it. And as with most kids, my mother and father were the victims of my strong food opinions. They went though stages of emotions while watching me eat (or pick) the laborious homemade meals they had prepared. Also, as most parents, they had a range of tactics for cooking for the family (including me) that were aimed to keep us all happy and well fed, but doing that in a sane matter was not always attainable. And as we all do, my parents learned as they went when my dad quickly discovered that if the kids don’t see the ingredients, they think they are not there. This is when he started cooking all the vegetables whole (so they are easy to find later), then pureeing them and returning them to back the meal so I would think “they are not there”. In fact, that approach was so successful that even when I was a grown up woman, I would still boil some vegetables (like carrots) whole, then puree them and return to the soup. Some here my wonder what happens with the clear-broth soups...well, that is another story which I will tell another time.

My dad’s clever approach started my life-long love of cream soups and for many years the only way I could eat boiled vegetables was when they are creamed. With age and experience I discovered many more vegetables (than potatoes and carrots) that made wonderful cream soups, which made me even more excited.

So, to no one’s surprise, today’s recipe is for a cozy cream of cauliflower soup. It was not until recently, when I discovered that cauliflower makes one of the most delicious and complex cream soups. And the reason is that cauliflower changes its taste as it cooks. The shorter it is cooked, the more cabbage-like will taste The longer it is cooked the nuttier and sweeter it becomes. And because its small very soluble fiber content, it makes for a wonderful silky-creamy soup without adding cream or milk.

To this recipe I have added a simple garnish of pan fried cauliflower flowerets that are lightly charred, with a hint of spice and a wonderful  fresh lemony taste. (Psst...they are so yummy, you might be tempted to make a whole head a cauliflower of them and eat them as a tasty bite while sipping a glass of lovely white wine).

This cozy winter soup is one of my favorite now and I hope you will like it too.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 1 head cauliflower (about 2 pounds)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 leek, white and light green part only, halved lengthwise, washed well of the sand and sliced thin
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 medium potato, peeled and sliced in large cubes
• Salt and black pepper
• 4.5–5 cups of water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 lemon, grated skin and juiced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp capers (optional), roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Cut the cauliflower in half and remove the core. Pull a heaping 1 cup of 1/2-inch florets and save for later for garnish. Pull or cut the remaining cauliflower in 3-inch pieces and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized pot. Add the leek and onion and sauté until soft but not brown. Add the garlic, stir and cook for about 30 seconds, making sure it doesn’t burn.

3. Increase the heat to high and add the water, potatoes and a tea spoon of salt. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes stirring from time to time.

4. Meanwhile, heat up a large empty heavy pan (cast iron preferably) over high heat and add the butter and the reserved cup of cauliflower florets. Lower to medium-high and brown the florets by stirring frequently, about 5-7 minutes. The flowerets are done when the edges are slightly charred. Turn off the heat and stir the red pepper flakes, lemon rind, juice and capers. Transfer to a small bowl and add salt to taste. Cover to keep warm.

5. Process the soup in a regular or immersion blender until smooth and creamy (hint: the higher the speed the smoother the soup will be). Add salt and pepper to taste and a tablespoon of butter, if desired.

6. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with a tablespoon of the spicy florets. Add grated Parmesan cheese for extra flavor, if desired.

Enjoy!