The Best Cauliflower Soup
Prep
10m
Cook
50m
Total
60m
Bigly says
We need to talk about cauliflower soup. The BEST cauliflower soup. I can already hear the doubts — you're thinking, 'Bigly, cauliflower? Cauliflower is the most boring vegetable in the produce section, cauliflower is what people eat when they've given up on joy.' And you would be RIGHT, normally. Normally. Cauliflower has a bad reputation, and it earned that reputation HONESTLY, because for decades — DECADES — people have been boiling it into a sad gray mush and calling it food. Wet sadness in a bowl. Pathetic. A national tragedy.
Here's what nobody tells you. ROASTED cauliflower is a completely different food. Different SPECIES, practically. You roast it in the oven until it gets little caramelized brown edges, the natural sugars come out, it tastes nutty, it tastes sweet, it tastes like the cauliflower you've been MISSING your entire life. Then you blend it into a soup with garlic and a splash of cream and trust me, you will not believe it came from this much-maligned, deeply misunderstood vegetable. My grandmother — and she was a tough woman, she once chased a door-to-door salesman down the block with a soup ladle, true story — my grandmother said boiling cauliflower was a SIN. She was right. She was always right.
I've fed this soup to people who claim — CLAIM — to hate cauliflower. People who would write letters about it. Strong opinions. They eat the soup, they go quiet, they look at me with their mouths open, they say 'Bigly. What is in this.' I tell them. They don't believe me. They make me show them the pot. The pot doesn't lie. The pot NEVER lies. It's a slaughter. End of discussion.
Ingredients
- 1 (about 2.5 lb)large head cauliflower(cut into florets, the smaller florets too, no waste here)
- 4 tbsp, dividedolive oil
- 1.5 tsp, divided, plus more to tastekosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 1 mediumyellow onion, diced
- 6 clovesgarlic, smashed(six cloves, this is not the time to be shy)
- 1 tsp, leaves onlyfresh thyme
- 5 cupslow-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1/3 cupheavy cream(yes, real cream, don't ask, just trust)
- 1/8 tspfreshly grated nutmeg(fresh; the pre-ground stuff is dust, sad dust)
- 1 tspfresh lemon juice
- 2 tbspfresh chives, finely sliced (for serving)
- as neededextra-virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
Steps
- 1
Heat oven to 425°F.
- 2
On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss cauliflower florets with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and the pepper. Spread in a single layer.
- 3
Roast 25-30 minutes, stirring once halfway, until edges are deeply golden brown and the florets are tender. Reserve a small handful of the prettiest florets for garnish.
- 4
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook 6-7 minutes until soft and translucent.
- 5
Add the garlic and thyme and cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant — do not let the garlic brown.
- 6
Add the roasted cauliflower (except the reserved garnish), broth, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes to let the flavors come together.
- 7
Working in batches, transfer to a blender and purée until completely smooth (or use an immersion blender right in the pot). For a silkier texture, pass through a fine-mesh sieve back into the pot.
- 8
Stir in the cream, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Warm gently over low heat. Taste and adjust salt.
- 9
Ladle into bowls. Top with the reserved roasted florets, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a sprinkle of chives.
One more thing
This is the kind of soup that makes people rethink their entire opinion of a vegetable. It's a conversion event. It's a religious experience in a bowl. You serve this at a dinner party, your guests stop talking — they just stop, mid-sentence — and that's the highest compliment a soup can earn. Pair it with a hunk of crusty bread and a glass of crisp white wine and you've got a Tuesday night that feels like a French bistro. Tremendous soup. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Cauliflower Soup.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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