My cousins are visiting from NYC. They brought me bagels, and not just *any* bagels. They trekked to the remaining David’s, bought a huge mixed bag of chewy deliciousness, and hauled them here on the plane. Did I mention that I love my cousins?
Having indulged in bagels for breakfast two mornings in a row, I thought a different sort of lunch might be in order. We went to Casa de Luz and enjoyed, among other things, their “cauliflower, carrot, squash & ginger soup”. Oh my. It is a creamy velouté of gingery goodness, and it makes me very happy.
a vegan lunch - beautiful and yummy!
Everything they preset at Casa de Luz is exquisite. What you’re seeing on the larger plate is: short & medium grains with mushroom tamari gravy, red lentils, mixed greens with pepita parsley sauce, slow cooked butternut squash and red cabbage & daikon pickle, and it was all good. The side salad, which included some optional arame and their house dressing, was excellent.
The soup, though, was really super, especially as I’m a ginger fanatic. It was served hot but would be swell chilled. I think you can arrive at something very close this way:
Cauliflower Carrot Squash & Ginger Soup
1 small cauliflower
1 small butternut squash
4 or 5 medium carrots
a roughly 2-inch long piece of fresh ginger
salt
Clean and rough chop the cauliflower, scrape and rough dice the carrots and peel, seed and rough cube the squash. Scrape the ginger, grate and set aside. Steam all vegetables until just al dente. Put in a large pot, add the steamer water and cover with fresh water. Add the grated ginger. Simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Puree until smooth with a stick blender. Add a pinch of salt if necessary. If the soup is too thick, add more water, if it is too runny, let it simmer *very* gently, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick. It will thicken as it cools. Enjoy hot or cold. Like most soups this is better the next day.
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If you live here and haven’t been, or if you ever visit Austin, I strongly suggest this place. It is a magical oasis in the city, lovely to walk back under the trellises to the restaurant, and the food is very very good!
and then make soup 
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