Wednesday 20 October 2010

Curried Roast Cauli Soup

I have to admit that I actually made this on my week off but haven't posted it yet. Whereas perhaps sometimes I'd not bother this far after the fact this was so very bloody lovely that I feel it's justified in its slightly tardy arrival to the reading public. :-p
I adapted this recipe from one I found on the Martha Stewart site - the only thing I can really say about Martha Stewart is neatly summed up by fellow CSH forum visitor Betsy: "Martha Stewart pretends to be the lady of the manor with nothing better to do than whip up insanely complicated handwoven-edible-birdseed-lavender-beeswax-table-decorations, while she's actually head of an entire corporate empire which bears her name. She probably spends her days in boardrooms and on her Blackberry."
I did say I adapted it though right? Here goes then:

Curried Roast Cauli Soup
1.5 lb cauli florets [save the leaves for soup]
1tbsp EVOO + a splosh
1tbsp veg / sunflower oil
1tsp salt / seasoned salt
1 biggish onion
2 sticks celery
Knob butter
2 heaped tsp curry powder [mine's korma]
0.5tsp garam masala
0.5tsp cayenne
500ml / 1 pint veg stock
500ml / 1 pint water

Preheat oven Gas 6.
Break cauli into small florets and spread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the veg/sunflower oil and 1tbsp of the olive oil. Sprinkle salt over and toss with your hands so all reasonably well covered.
Roast in oven for about 30 mins - until florets just start to brown on edges. [Incidentally if you've never tried roast cauli do so - it's lovely! Leave florets a little larger and roast a little longer, prob with less/no salt too.]
Roughly chop onion and celery. You don't need to be too conscientious at this point as it's all getting blended later.
Heat butter and splosh olive oil in big enough saucepan to cook whole recipe in. Add veg & cook until softened.
Add spices; adjust depending how hot your curry powder is / how hot you like it.
Mix well and add stock and water.
Add approx 2/3's of the cauli ensuring all the biggest florets and any stalk bits that *crept through go into the pot, leaving out only those small florets you'd be happy to see floating in your bowl at mealtime.
Cover pan and bring to the boil. Cook 5-10 mins until veg soft. Liquidise with a stick blender or FP.
Return to pan and add the reserved florets.
Heat gently until all warmed through then serve.

This was frankly lovely. I was fair chuffed I must say. I had been slightly concerned that it would be a little thin as there's no spuds in it but it pureed to a good thickness and was smooth and tasty.
It could take a little more heat; I'm not a massive fan of very hot stuff as I like to be able to taste the flavours but I think I'd add a whole teaspoon of cayenne next time rather than the half, just to give that little extra kick for winter.
I can also report that it freezes well, and keeps it's flavours. [In fact I ended up adding about 1/3 of this to 2/3 of the roasted onion soup I made but didn't rate much, and it was lovely like that too. Flavours still came through really well in that proportion and against the onion.]
A definite keeper recipe for me. :-D
*When I say 'crept through' I don't really mean it. Don't throw out stalks of cauli and broccoli; keep them and use for soup, discarding the tough outer layer. The inside of a broccoli stalk is a sweet and lovely thing!

2 comments:

  1. What a novel idea to roast cauli, Ruth. I have never heard of that before. I bet it would be a great way of using up the last two or three in our kitchen garden that look a bit too "woolly" for normal boiling as a side veg.

    I had a look at your roast onion soup recipe too, and your experiment with adding some of this curried roast cauli soup to it. That has got me thinking along the lines you suggested of using the roasted onion soup as a base for better things.

    We adore good onion gravy, so I think I will experiment a little with your suggestions.
    Chips and curried roasted onion gravy (with added roasted cauli).
    Could start a whole new trend in East Anglian cuisine!

    Thanks for the great reads on here.

    Best wishes,
    Danny x x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Curried roast veg gravy sounds good to me! :-D Do give roast cauli a try - it's really good and not at all how you think it'll turn out. I had to stop myself scoffing the lot at the roasting stage when I made this soup!
    Glad you're enjoying my witterings. Keep commenting!
    Ruth x

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