Reconsider the Crucifer: Cauliflower Soup

A former track coach convinced me once that vegetables without much color have little nutritional value. Lies. Cauliflower is, in fact, better for you than eating cheese doodles, and that's all the health information I need.


Was tempted to try this curry/honey cauliflower soup recipe but shied away, preferring to stick to what I know: boiling.

Fact time. Crucifers (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and those veggies whose petals form a "cross" as the Latin root suggests) are high in vitamin C & K, and - !fun med school fact! - potent cytochrome P450 inducers (i.e. they can increase liver enzyme levels, which in turn make the metabolism of some drugs faster). A cup of boiled cauliflower provides 100% of the %daily value of vitamin C. So says this Whole Foods graph. And no, I will not look up a more scientific source.

Ingredients:

1/2 cauliflower head
handful baby carrots (or about a cup of chopped carrots)
1 celery stick, chopped
3-4 slices tomato
4-5 slices raw ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 T butter (or bacon fat, but I opted out this time)
Old Bay seasoning (I used to throw this in everything, and now use more judiciously)
dried sage, cilantro
salt, pepper

cornstarch

Directions:
Throw everything in a medium stockpot & boil until the cauliflower florets are dissociated. Simmer for 3-4 hours. When everything is nice and mushy, make a slurry of 3 T cornstarch and about 1/4 c water (the water doesn't have to be exact, so long as the cornstarch is dissolved. It should be the consistency heavy cream, but not yogurt). Add cornstarch into hot soup, while stirring (If you don't stir, you'll get weird cornstarch clumps in your soup which can't be fixed). I think you can also thicken with flour, but I've never done that. Ditto with tapioca flour using the same method.

I also added a 1/2 c of cubed confetti squash that I had leftover from another night, which is why the soup is a bit yellowish. But I don't think it makes a huge impact on flavor.

Just before serving, you can stir in 1/4 cup of milk to the hot (but not boiling) soup if you want it creamier. Or add a few splashes of full cream. I find that cream usually dulls the veggie flavors, so I don't use too much of it (i.e. Campbell's cream of mushroom soup is, to me, overkill).

Here's the pot, post cream (next to the pasta). I may have added 2 T at most (really not too much).


The rest of tonight's delicious meal, courtesy of DD. Lemon & parsley chicken, whole wheat pasta, and steamed broccoli.