Eat Well: Split Pea Cauliflower Soup

The following post was written by my mom who is adorable. Thanks, mom!

I have a confession to make. When my kids were young I didn’t always correct them when they mispronounced or confused things. I realize now that probably wasn’t a good idea (Rachel to this day confuses a lot of words—she was the youngest and it was SO CUTE!!)

I don’t know why Rebecca started calling this week’s soup Split Pea. It isn’t green and doesn’t have anything resembling a pea in it. But I never corrected her, probably because at the time, I wasn’t making split pea soup anyway, and she liked thinking she was eating split pea….and…it was CUTE!! Anyway, until I started making my vegetarian split pea, Moosewood’s cauliflower cheese soup was split pea soup in our house. This was Rebecca’s favorite soup growing up…it might have been her favorite food I cooked. David and Rachel also liked it. The great thing was, none of the kids knew how much cauliflower was in it (they would never eat cauliflower if it was placed on their plates). It has a lot of dairy products in it -- milk, buttermilk, and cheese. Now I use goat milk and goat cheddar (rennetless):

ED: If you're vegan, you can use soy or almond milk and try adding hummus to the soup instead of the cheese. It thickens up the soup and adds a lot of flavor.

I know some of you have mentioned that your kids won’t eat soup but you might want to try this one. It tastes like a cheesy baked potato and kids love it. (At least mine did!!)

I don’t add the extra flowerets to the soup at the end. I just use the whole head of cauliflower at the beginning (about 3 ½ cups—this disguises the cauliflower for the kids who like smooth soups better than chunky ones).

Moosewood Cauliflower Cheese Soup

STEP 1:

2 cups potato chunks

2 cups cauliflowerets (I use a whole head of cauliflower)

1 cup chopped carrot (about 3 large carrots)

3 medium cloves garlic

1 cup chopped onion

½ tsp salt

4 cups water or vegetable stock

Place the above ingredients together in a pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.

Puree the entire mixture in the blender (or with an immersion blender) until smooth and creamy.

STEP 2:

Transfer to a kettle and whisk in:

1 ½ cups grated cheddar:

...¾ cup milk

¼ tsp. dill weed

¼ tsp. ground dill or caraway seed

¼ tsp. dry mustard

black pepper to taste

(Optional: Steam or sauté in butter 1 ½ cups more cauliflowerets. Add these to the soup). Just before serving whisk in: ¾ cup buttermilk (or kefir). Serve topped with chopped scallions and extra cheese.

Serves 4-5 (can be easily doubled)

Enjoy!!!

………………

Last week someone asked me to do a tutorial about how to freeze food without freezer burn. (If you are going to freeze the cauliflower cheese soup, do so after step one. Then, warm up the thawed soup and continue with step 2).

The best way to freeze food:

Buy gallon freezer bags (zip lock). Line a tall plastic storage container with the bag, folding the top edges over the rim. Fill about ¾ full with the soup or any other food such you want to freeze (don’t overfill…the soup will expand when it freezes).

Close the top tightly except for a small opening big enough to fit a straw inside. Suck out the air. Squeeze the Ziplock bag the rest of the way closed as you remove straw (still sucking).

I know this sounds really strange, but it works. It takes some practice but once you get the hang of it, you will find that you won’t have any freezer burn on your food. Alternatively, you can buy one of those vacuum sealer freezer contraptions, but my way is a lot cheaper!

Love,

WWW