It’s A Meal Cauliflower Soup

At last the weather has been cold enough to jump-start my desire for soup. I love soup all year long, but there is something about the first cold snap that makes me happy to just have a big mug of soup for dinner.

Maybe it was from the years we lived in London. Cold and usually wet were the weather of most days. Since Russ and I worked many hours a day there was not a lot of cooking going on. We came to depend on the Covent Garden Soup stand in Euston station that was conveniently next to our office in Grant Thornton House. I can’t remember all the soups we used to get, but I can say we never had a bad one. What I learned from them is that soup could be satisfying as a meal unto itself. Of course they also included a hunk of crusty bread to eat with our soup, but even forgoing that today I was happy with this concoction.

3 Slices of think cut bacon cut into lardons

1 large sweet onion chopped

4 coves of garlic minced

2 carrots peeled and chopped

1 head of cauliflower broken into florets

1 qt. of chicken stock

6 springs of fresh thyme tied together with kitchen string- or two dashes of dried thyme

1 cup of milk

¾ cup of grated Gruyere cheese

Dash of cayenne pepper

Black pepper

Put the Bacon in a stockpot and cook on medium high heat until almost crispy. Pull the cooked bacon out and set aside leaving the bacon grease in the pot. Add the onion, garlic and carrots and cook for five mins. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add the cauliflower and thyme, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook about 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft.

Remove from heat and fish out the fresh thyme if used. Using a stick blender puree the soup adding the milk to ensure you have enough liquid.   When smooth add the cayenne and lots of black pepper and the cheese.

Serve with a few of the bacon lardoons on top.

Eat and imagine you live in London.