Cauliflower and Cheddar Soup

The "In Season" feature for this month's Everyday Food (Issue #90) is cauliflower. YUM, I like cauliflower, but rarely do anything other than eat it raw or steam it.

CAULIFLOWER AND CHEDDAR SOUP

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

1 medium head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2" pieces

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups sharp white cheddar, grated

coarse salt and ground pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (the wimp (me) skipped this)

Step 1

In a large pot, melt butter over medium. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook until just beginning to brown, 12 minutes. Add broth and 1 cup water; bring to boil over high. Reduce heat and simmer until cauliflower is very tender, minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Step 2

In batches, fill a blender halfway with mixture and puree until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return pureed soup to pot and add more broth or water for thinner consistency, if desired (I didn't have to). Heat over medium until warmed through; add cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with cayenne (if you are braver than me, I used paprika).

RATINGS:

Heather - 9 - "I thought it would be creamier"

Brad - 12 - "Soooo good"

NOTES:

I can't believe Brad gave this a 12 out of 10! A nice surprise since soup isn't high on his list.

The "use caution" statement couldn't be more true. I usually use my immersion blender for soups but since this needed to be totally smooth and the regular blender hadn't seen any action in awhile I figured I would use it. I almost blew the top off of it. BE CAREFUL!!

We will definitely have this again.