Friday, December 7, 2012

French Fridays with Dorie - Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream


Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is a Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream.




Cauliflower is incredibly versatile and can be used in any number of recipes such as in soups, gratins, salads and pickles. You can steam, fry, stir-fry or eat the florets raw in salads or eat as crudités with dips. Or serve the cauliflower as a vegetable accompaniment to meat and poultry dishes or as fritters. And if you choose to roast cauliflower in the oven,  it really does concentrates the flavor of this terrific vegetable. Usually it is rather inexpensive and local, so there is more than one reason to try out and cook with this classic vegetable.

When shopping for cauliflower,it is best to choose a firm, compact, creamy-white head with fresh leaves. You should try to avoid buying one with limp, yellowing leaves or spotted brown curds. In Europe, cauliflower is in season from February to May and again from August to December and a good, undamaged head will keep loosely wrapped for over a week in the fridge. To prepare the cauliflower, all you have to do is to trim off the leaves, cut off the core and separate the individual florets.

Dorie´s simple recipe calls for the preparation of a nice basic creamy soup (onion, garlic, celery, cauliflower) that can be dressed up any which way – I prepared a Parsley Pesto and drizzled some on the soup just before serving. Once properly puréed, the soup is naturally creamy without the further addition of cream.




To see how the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group prepared this Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream, please click here.





40 comments:

  1. Your color addition is just what this soup needs. This soup is a good base but needs color and some good flavor addition.

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    1. Krissy, thanks for the comment - this wonderful soup certainly gained from a bit of a colorful and tasty "garnish".

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  2. Pesto, that´s a clever idea. And the pic is great with the added green. I added truffle oil to a bowl and it was amazing. Have a great weekend Andrea!

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    1. Paula, truffle oil sounds wonderful with this soup - I am sure that it was delicious with a few drops of this precious oil.

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  3. Oooh ... parsley pesto makes this soup look so beautiful. My addition was curried mussels. Yum.

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    1. Tammy, curries mussels sound absolutely fabulous with this cauliflower soup - you are absolutely right, curry pairs really well with this vegetable!

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  4. I like the addition of the parsley pesto, great idea. This month recipes are all good ones, I have been knocking them out
    so I can get on with the Christmas Eve food plans. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Nana, you are so right - we have very lovely recipes to cook this months - most of them a welcome "breeze" during the busy festive season!

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  5. I love that pop of green pesto on the white. Very lovely, very elegant. And thanks for the interesting cauliflower info! I never cook with it, but my husband loves it, so it'd be nice if I could find a method of cooking it that I like. I'll have to give it another try soon!

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    1. Sara, thanks for the comment - I also liked the additions that you served together with your soup.

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  6. Simple and delicious. Perfect sop.

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  7. Your soup looks delicious:) I love the parsley pesto. The color of the pesto with the soup makes the soup look very inviting. Great Job.

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  8. Hmmmm, parley pesto. That's a nice touch and makes for a nice presentation. I like cauliflower so I loved this soup but I don't think it's going to be a winner for my two granddaughters, Melissa is making it tonight for them. Am wondering if your girls like it.

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    1. Mary, the kids adore all types of cream soup, I make these types of soup so often I was a little bit unmotivated to prepare this Creamy Cauliflower Soup I must say - there is not a drop left of this soup, the last kid actually licked ou the bowl, so, I guess that means they liked it.

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  9. Parsley pesto is a wonderful idea. So vibrant and pretty and delicious. Beautiful photos.

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    1. Guyla, thanks so much! This soup just looked and tasted somwhat better with some pesto added to it.

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  10. The pesto added such a vibrant spot of color to your soup - really lovely.

    I kind of wish this soup had come up over the summer when I was swimming in cauliflower and always looking for ideas to use it up - but for next year, I know what to do with some of it!

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    1. Cher, that is so true, there was a lot of cauliflower available a couple of months ago and this soup is equally nice during the summer/fall months!

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  11. I like that you added the parsley pesto to give both color and flavor. Karen (Back Road Journal)

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    1. Karen, thank you so much - this soup was elegant on its own but even a bit better with that pesto - who does not like some pesto in soups or on bread?!

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  12. Your pesto is a beautiful addition! This soup desperately needed some color :)

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    1. Liz, you are so right . who would like to eat a bland looking soup, no matter how delicious it is?! The saying "You eat with your eyes first!" - "Das Auge isst mit!" holds quite true when looking at this soup.

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  13. I love your creamy cauliflower soup with parsley pesto! So beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, Nami - the kids adored this soup, as they do all cream soups, they really seem to appeal to them quite a bit, they even liked the Parsley Pesto.

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  14. I was really surprised how creamy this soup tasted without any cream in sight. I like how your parsley pesto looks in it. This was a good recipe for this time of year.

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    1. Thanks so much - it is really wonderfuk that cauliflower makes such a wonderful soup witghout the addition of cream.

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  15. Wow, love the way your lovely soup looks with the parsley pesto drizzled over it! Beautiful presentation, Andrea!

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    1. Thank you, Kathy! Green is always such a nice color with creamy white - even in a soup.

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  16. Andrea, I love how your parsley pesto adds color to the creamy white soup. It looks delicious! I know it must have tasted as good as it looks. Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks, Betsy! This was a lovely recipe fpor a wonderful fall type of soup and it was even better with a splash of added color from the pesto (tasted good too).

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  17. Parsley pesto = yum! Beautiful photos - it's weird how the very white soup looks so pretty in the white dish. You'd think it would get lost but no, it looks amazing.

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    1. Maggie, thanks so much - I like these white serving plates - they give me room for some colorful accents to play with and do not distract from the food too much.

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  18. What gorgeous photos. The pesto just gives it a lovely pop of color. I haven't made this one yet because I wasn't sure my husband will like it, but I will make it soon.

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    1. Elaine, thanks so much - as much we enjoy cream soups, I always like to add a bit of a "topping" to these types of soups.

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  19. Parsley pesto is perfect, for the addition of colour and flavour, too.

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    1. Teresa, thank you - the parsley pesto did add some color an taste to the soup which we enjoyed quite a bit.

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