In New England, it seems soup weather lasts about 10 months out of the year. The cold and rainy weather earlier in the week had me wanting something warm and cozy, velvety and comforting, but without the fat that cream and butter add to hearty winter dishes. I am glad the weather is finally starting to cooperate with my desire to get healthier!
I have an old school vegetarian cookbook from back in the day when I was hardcore vegetarian, and it had the suggestion for using potatoes to make a soup creamier without the cream. I had a head of cauliflower in the house for snacks, so I decided to whip up a quick cauliflower and potato soup.
I started with one and a half sweet onions, peeling and chopping them finely. Then I scrubbed three russet potatoes and about 3/4 head of cauliflower clean and chopped them, adding them to a pot of boiling water until they were soft.
Once the cauliflower and potatoes were soft, I drained them out and added them to the blender, filling it up with a few cups of vegetable stock. You could also use chicken stock if you had it laying around.
The veggies will be nice and soft and will puree up into a velvety, creamy soup. Beautiful!
To serve, I scooped a few ladles of the soup into bowls and topped with with some white truffle oil.
If you don’t have truffle oil, a bit of olive oil would work just as well. I added some black pepper for a bit of extra flavor.
You would probably never be able to tell that this soup didn’t have cream in it, it was so rich and creamy. The flavor of the cauliflower was subtle but definitely came through in a nice way. You know how cauliflower can smell kind of funky when cooking, but this was very mellow. I love potatoes, and I love sneaking healthy veggies in wherever I can, and this was a total hit.
