Creamy Cauliflower Soup

I have been making a lot of soups lately with almost any ingredient that I can find, that needs to be used up. Soup for dinner is so comforting and makes for a perfect meal especially when you are alone at home and are in no mood to cook. It also fits in with my plan towards healthier eating in spite of the numerous failed attempts.

Here’s a recipe for a soup that only takes minutes to make and calls for just a handful of ingredients. The recipe involves cooking some onions, potatoes and cauliflower florets till tender and then blending everything together to get a rich and creamy soup.
Here’s how I made mine -

Ingredients:
½ onion, peeled & chopped finely
1 medium potato, peeled & chopped into small cubes
1 pack of frozen cauliflower
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp ginger paste.
¾ cup milk
½- 1 tsp of nutmeg powder depending on taste
Salt & pepper to taste.
Herbs for garnishing
1 Tbsp olive oil

Method:
Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and add the chopped onion, ginger & garlic. Sauté everything for a minute or two.

Add the potato cubes and cauliflower florets along with a little bit of water and cover & cook till tender.

Blend/Puree the mixture after cooling and return to the saucepan.

Add about ¾ cup of milk and cook for another 2-3 minutes. (You could add some more water here depending on the consistency you want for your soup. I like mine thick, rich and creamy; hence added the milk & almost no water)

Add the nutmeg powder, season with some salt and pepper, garnish with some herbs and serve hot.

Cauliflower au Gratin

Here's a quick & easy recipe that I came up with as a result of a Google search. It seemed perfect since it did not require too many ingredients and I did not have much in my refrigerator anyway!

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower, broken in florets (You could use frozen cauliflower too)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheese ( I used Mozzarella)
Salt & pepper to taste.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Blanch the cauliflower florets in a pot of salted boiling water until just tender (this takes about 3-4 minutes). I salt the water just so that the flavor of the cauliflower is enhanced slightly.

Meanwhile, prepare some white sauce by melting the butter, blending in the flour & adding the milk gradually while stirring constantly till the mixture thickens. ( takes about 3 minutes or so)Add salt & pepper.

Drain the cauliflower & place in a baking dish. Sprinkle a little bit of the shredded cheese uniformly over the florets.

Pour the white sauce over this.

Finally, sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheese over the sauce and bake at 375 degree F for 20 minutes until the cheese melts & you get a nice golden brown topping.


Other veggies that you could include in this recipe are corn & broccoli. They taste so good together.Unfortunately, I was out of both.This took me a little under 30 min to prepare from start to finish & I did not have to worry about cleaning up either since it is cooked & served in the same dish!

This picture does not do justice to the dish. Believe me, it tastes better than it looks!! :-)

This goes to Shaheen for her Express Cooking Event.