Cauliflower Soup With Pecan and Mushroom
I love soup. It love making it not just for the winter but simple and light soup during Spring/Summer is always a must for me too. Soup is classified into clear and thick soup. Clear soup in French is always referred to bouillon and consommé. Thick soup is usually purées and thickened with cream, eggs or butter. Rice and grains are sometimes used as great additions to the soup and agents of thickening too.
Thick chunky soup like French Onion Soup is always a comfort dish for me. It the kind of dish that can be eaten as main with some slices of crusty bread. Another of my favourite has to be Butternut Squash Soup that is so easy to make and so tasty.
My maternal grandparents hailed from the region of Canton in China. Thus, soup is always a must during each meal. I remember how passionate my grandmother was in cooking. When I was young, we visited my maternal grandparents at least once a week.
Though quite blurry, I could still remember that my grandmother spent a lot of time in the kitchen, making all the dishes from scratch and there was always a big pot of soup waiting for us. A dinner or lunch was never served without soup. So, I think, that tradition was passed down to my mom. Mom loves her soup. She always makes sure there is soup served during each meal.
Though I am going to share a Western-style soup today, I hope to share in the future posts, a few of my favourite Chinese-style soups that mom makes a lot.
Cauliflower is a great and versatile vegetable. Other than steaming or stir-frying, I like to use it to make into soup. So far, I have only tried the white variety. The purple one looks absolutely stunning, I wonder if the soup will look appealing. Cauliflower soup is nice, but it is even nicer when it is served with some pan-fried mushrooms and chopped toasted pecan nuts. The combinations give Autumn/Winter feel overall and it’s great for the weather we have now!
Cauliflower Soup With Pecan Nut and Mushroom
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
30 minutes
Yield:
4 persons
Ingredients:
For the Cauliflower Soup With Pecan Nut and Mushroom:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs lemon thyme
800g cauliflower, roughly chopped
1 litre chicken or vegetal stock
50ml milk
80ml double cream
150g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
a big handful of pecan nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
salt and pepper
Method:
1. In a deep heavy-based pan over a medium heat, put 1 tbsp of the olive oil and add the onion, garlic, bay leaves and lemon thyme, fry for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the chopped cauliflower and the stock. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
2. Remove the bay leaves and lemon thyme, carefully pour the soup mixture into a food processor and blend to a purée. Pour back into a saucepan over low heat, add the milk and double cream. Stir to mix, season with salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, put the rest of the olive oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Add the chestnut mushrooms, fry for 5-6 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and brown. Remove from the heat and set aside. To serve, divide the soup into individual bowls, top equal portion of fried mushrooms and pecan nuts. Garnish with some lemon thyme leaves if desired.
