Leek Cleaned Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Leek Cleaned Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
3 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1 quart milk, water, or chicken broth, plus more as needed to thin
½ to 1 cup heavy cream (to taste)

Directions:
Salt
Pepper
Soup Croutons, optional
Take the little flowers off the cauliflower head (see How to Cut Up Cauliflower). In a
pot, combine the cauliflower, leeks, potato, and milk, bring to a gentle simmer, and
simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes, or until the vegetables are completely soft.
Puree the soup with a blender (see precautions) and then strain it into a clean pot.
Add the cream, bring to a simmer, and season with salt and pepper. If the soup is too
thick, thin it with a little additional milk. Garnish with the croutons.
OTHER VEGETABLE SOUPS
Two of the greatest of all vegetable soups—tomato soup and onion soup—are made
with just a single vegetable. Some cooks argue that tomatoes need the support of an
onion and perhaps some herbs, but when tomatoes are at their best, the soup needs
nothing more than the tomatoes themselves. French onion soup can be more solid than
liquid, almost like a savory bread pudding, or it can be like a consommé, with just a
small tangle of onion strands. It is usually somewhere in between, with a savory
cheesy crust on top and plenty of onions and broth underneath.
French Onion Soup
Onion soup recipes usually call for beef broth, which puts some of us off or has us
reaching for a can. Despite the fact that French onion soup can still be marvelous even
made with indifferent canned broth, anemic cheese, and white bread, it is worth using
a decent broth and the most savory cheese you can find. Because the onions are so
flavorful, it makes little difference whether you use beef broth or something else.
Some of the best onion soups use turkey broth made from the leftover holiday carcass,
and Brown Chicken broth is also a good choice. Traditional recipes call for Gruyère
cheese, which is Swiss without the holes, but any sharp, semi-hard cheese, such as
Cheddar, aged Gouda, or Fontina d’Aosta, works beautifully. The bread should have a
dense crumb—don’t use airy bread, which will get soggy—and is ideally cooked in
butter ahead of time, which keeps it from absorbing liquid. If you run out of time and
don’t brown the bread in butter, your soup will still be a success. One warning: You
are going to end up with what looks like a mountain of raw onions. Don’t worry, as
they will cook down to about one-tenth of their original volume. Don’t use overly
sweet onions, such as Vidalia; use a mild onion, such as a red onion.
MAKES 6 CUPS OR 6 FIRST-COURSE SERVINGS