Baby...baby it's cold outside. You know how I'm gonna warm you up? With this hearty delicious and healthy soup, that's how. (Please, this is a family web site......kinda...humor me a little here). This is one of my favorite soup recipes, because it comes out really rich and creamy, with no heavy cream at all, not even any dairy. I came up with the recipe, originally without the sausage, for a friend of mine who eats "Paleo" and was tired of chicken and broccoli. This recipe is super simple and super-fast. You can even portion it out and freeze it, so you just grab a container and go in a pinch. You can also add whatever sausage you like. I also like to use a Roasted Garlic and Parmesan sausage, Chorizo, Merguez, whatever you like. I also like to throw a little blue cheese in there, but that's up to you. To make half a gallon you'll need:
1 2.5 lbs. cauliflower. (Try to get the whole heads fresh, they’re great in the winter and really cheap. If you have to use frozen, just thaw it first, drain, and then weigh.)
1 medium white onion, sliced thin
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| Little tomato love with that soup please |
3 whole cloves garlic
1.5 qts. chicken stock
1 c. white wine (dry preferably)
2 tbsp. fresh marjoram leaves (or oregano if you can't find marjoram)
1 tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves
4 links of your favorite chicken and apple sausage, sliced
1. KNIFE WORK TIME!!!!!!!!! But before you pick it up, set your oven to broil. You'll thank me later. Take the core out of you cauliflower and remove the leaves, like this:
Then just make 1 inch slices and lay them out on a sheet tray or baking tray, if they fall apart, no big deal. Brush the cauliflower with olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and toss them in the oven for 10 minutes, or until they looks like this:
If you can only get frozen cauliflower, not big deal. Just toss it in a bowl, season it with salt and pepper the toss it in oil. Broil it the same way. Just worry about one side, we want to flavor, just not all that color.
2. With the Cauliflower set aside, it's time to get going on the soup. In a nice big, heavy bottom pot start sweating the onions and garlic. You can use any oil to do this, I prefer just regular olive oil or canola oil, it's just preference at this point. Stir the onions and garlic around every two minutes, when everything is nice and translucent like this:
it's time to add your wine.
3. Reduce the wine all the way down. This means all the way to where there's almost no liquid left in the pot.
4. Now it's time to add the cauliflower, herbs and your stock. Bring everything up to a boil, and then reduce the heat down to a simmer for about 45-60 minutes.
5. At this point the cauliflower and onions should be super soft. If not, cook it a bit more. This is where we get to play with some hardware!!!! If you have a stick blender, go to town until the soup is smooth, if not, use a regular blender. I've used both and found the regular old school blenders to make a smoother puree, but it's preference.
6. MEAT TIME!!!!! Either slice or dice the sausages and get a sauté pan nice and hot. These sausages will usually come pre-cooked, so all you have to do is heat it up. If you have raw sausages, just cook 'em in the oven. Take your sausage slices or dices, toss them in the hot pan for a minute them just serve over the top of the soup. If you're making the soup now for a time later you can hold off on the sausage until you ready to serve, or just throw it in now if you don't care about it not looking pretty. This is the point where I like to throw some blue cheese and diced tomatoes on top (just an couple of tbsp, and bring this soup to another level.
So there you have it. I hearty, healthy, stick to your ribs kind of meal. Don't be afraid to play with this recipes a little bit. You want different sausage? No Problem. You want to add a nice ripe cheese? No Problem. You want to add cream? No problem (just add 1 c. when you add the stock). Use your imagination here and create your own variation of this soup in your own lab. You get questions? No problem, just hit me up in the comments.
Happy Eating,
-The Doctor
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