Tis the season for soups, and stews, and roasts and braised meats. The trend of puréed soups has been prevalent for years, but carrot ginger and the like have had their limelight.  I love the idea of pairing flavors together and elevating a simple idea of puréed soup into something unexpected. This elegant, simple dish takes veggies and herbs and turns the typical vegetable soup into a luxurious starter or main.

 

 

 

 

soup garnished with lump crab meat. yummmmm 

 

One of my signature dishes these days has been a cauliflower saffron soup recipe that I adapted from an epicurious.com recipe. I wanted to find something that combined two things I love, saffron and cauliflower, so I googled it.  People tend to shy away from saffron since it can definitely be an expensive spice.  It also has a shrimp like essence and that is a turn off for some. It is used in Spanish, Moroccan, Mediterranean, Thai and Indian foods.  It doesn’t get more exotic than that!  This is when it’s time to hit your ethnic markets and get either saffron threads or  saffron flowers for much cheaper.  If there is a Trader Joe’s in your area, a small jar of Spanish saffron threads will run you about $6 bucks.  Saffron flowers are even cheaper.  You will need to use more of them though to get the nice orange oil.  Of course you get what you pay for, but I would say its very difficult to taste the difference of what grade saffron is being used in a soup. I would hope that expensive restaurants with their saffron vanilla bean cream sauces would be using the higher-end threads, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

 

 

 

I have made it two different ways.  One as is, and one with roasting the cauliflower prior to adding it to the broth.  Both are delicious, the main difference is the color and heartier flavor.  Though they are both velvety in texture, it really depends on what you will be serving it with.  The roasted version tends to feel heavier and masks the delicate flavor of the saffron.  Also a variation that can be done is to omit the cream entirely.  The soup is so creamy that it really doesn’t need it. I don’t mandate low calorie foods when hosting a dinner party.  That’s just no fun and requires an entirely separate article to discuss that topic.  For special occasions, I have served it with fresh lump crab meat as the garnish. Any seafood would go well. A seared sea scallop with a parmesan crisp; even some shrimp in the shell sautéed in anchovy butter.

 

As I’ve mentioned before, I am the lazy gourmet.  The recipe has been adjusted to go with what size containers of chicken broth and pre-cut cauliflower I can pick up at the market.  So basically, the most difficult part of the recipe is chopping onions and puréeing the soup.

 

 

 

Something to note about purée soups-  if you are using a traditional upright blender to do the puréeing, you must wait till the soup has cooled down or you could have a huge kitchen mess on your hands. Once cooled, you will still need to hold your hands over the lid as you can feel the pressure from the hot steam churning upwards and creating pressure that would blow the top right off.  The best way to purée the soup is to make the soup in a large pot (larger than necessary) and use an emulsion hand blender.  You can use that while the soup is hot.  Just be careful if your pot is a non-stick, so you don’t ruin the bottom. I tend to make larger quantities of these kind of soups and freeze them in single serving containers.   it’s great reheated as a quick meal during the week with a crusty baguette.  The consistency of the soup looks a bit chunky when defrosted, but once it’s heated up again it tastes just as good and is restored back to its creamy self.

 

 

 

Cauliflower Saffron Soup:

Full recipe makes about 12 servings 

 

2 bags of (12 oz) cauliflower pre-cut and washed

2 large onions-  diced

10-15 saffron threads

1 stick unsalted butter-  (1/2 c) + for re-heating

salt and pepper to taste

2- 24oz boxes of organic free range chicken broth 

1 cup water (more water can be added for desired consistency once soup is pureed)

heavy cream for drizzling (optional)

 

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

chives for garnish or dash of red pepper or nutmeg

 

 

luxify with:

lump crab meat

seared sea scallops

parmesan crisps

 

 

 

PREPARATION:

 

Pre heat oven to 350˚-  if roasting cauliflower.  if not-  no need for the oven at all.

 

If you want to roast the cauliflower first for a heartier flavor-  toss cauliflower lightly in ollive oil and a few pinches of kosher salt and spread out in a shallow baking dish.   Roast in oven for 30 minutes at 350˚.  the brown color from roasting will affect the flavor and overall color.  (the soup will be more of a yellow ochre color as opposed to a pale yellow)

 

 

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a large sauce pan.  remove from heat. Add the saffron threads and let steep, covered.

In a large stock pot-  melt the butter and add the onions.  sautee over medium heat, being careful to not let them brown.  once the onions are a translucent white, add in the cauliflower. (Please keep in mind, the roasted cauliflower will be have brown bits.  you want this!) Continue cooking for about 15 minutes on low heat till they soften. 

 

Add in the saffron broth and allow to boil then simmer (about 15 minute) until cauliflower is very soft and can be mushed with a wooden spoon. Allow the soup to cool and purée with a blender or handheld emulsion blender. You can use a hand-held emulsion blender right away, but be careful of the hot steam. 

 

Salt to taste. Serve with a drizzle of heavy whipping cream or a small pat of butter and garnish with black pepper.

 

FOR FREEZING: 

 

Ladle into freezable containers depending on desired future serving sizes.  Freezes up to 2 months.  When freezing or refrigerating foods, allow them to cool completely before covering tightly and refrigerating.  It is not good to shock the food from extreme temperature to extreme temperature and will allow it to keep longer.  

When re-heating frozen soup-  you can always thicken it by cooking it on low heat for a while or thin it out by adding water or more broth.

 

I recently served this soup with pao de quejio-  brazilian cheese puffs.  It goes well with mini cornbread too.

 

So with the basics of this soup-  a couple simple ingredients, a luxurious spice/ herb, chicken broth, butter and a blender, one could come up with several other variations for a unique, puréed, winter favorite.  Some great examples that have been in rotation for years:

 

potato leek

carrot ginger

broccoli cream

 

These soups could easily be vegetarian by omitting the chicken broth and using water.