Back to the Kitchen with Cauliflower Parsley Soup

I had a head of cauliflower in last week’s veggie box and a bunch of parsley from 3 weeks ago!  I’m not crazy about cauliflower and I have my own pot of parsley so I decided to mix them together to make a soup.  It’s tasty and would make a good appetizer rather than a main course because it is rather rich. I also wondered about using it as a pasta sauce.

 

• chop 1/2 a leek and sauté it with
• 1/4 of a red onion (I decided to clear out the fridge)
• 1 large, fat carrot (the carrots from this grower are the largest I’ve seen and he tells me they’re organic)
• 1 head of cauliflower, leaves and all, sliced and chopped
• 1 bunch of curly parsley, chopped
• about 1/2 c of red lentils
• 2 heaping teaspoons good tasting veggie gravy powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Once the veggies are sautéed, toss in the lentils and add enough boiling water to just cover the veggies.  Mix the veggie gravy powder with a little cold water and stir that in, add the salt ‘n’ pepper and bay leaf, then put a lid on it and let it simmer till the lentils disappear (about 40 minutes).  Keep your eye on it and stir occasionally to avoid sticking.

When it’s cooked, whizz it with a hand-held blender.  Serve sprinkled with grated parmesan and your favorite seeds.  Vegans can use good tasting engevita yeast instead of cheese.

I think it could also use garlic croutons, but I didn’t have any bread as I ate the last of it for breakfast with a boiled egg and didn’t get out to buy any more!  This is how to make the garlic croutons:

• Finely dice a fat clove of garlic then pound it into a slice of whole wheat bread.
• Fry it in a generous dollop of olive oil.
• When it’s fried, chop it into cubes and toss them on the top of your bowl of soup.

If you’re feeling lazy and eating alone – and your soup bowl is large enough – you can just lay the slab of fried bread on top of the bowl of soup – but you might need a knife and fork to eat it! I might try that tomorrow as I have rather a lot of this soup and no freezer!

Related articles

• Cooking with Cauliflower – Our 10 Best Ideas (wholefoodsmarket.com)
• Roasted Cauliflower Soup (noshmyway.com)