as promised

Seems to me that way back at the beginning of the year I promised to introduce you to some of my friends. I posted one guest post, but I’m only now getting around to the rest of their wonderful articles – apologies to them and to you but there you have it. I got a delicious bouquet of entries and so, in no particular order whatsoever, here’s one yummy offering from a very good friend indeed!
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Cauliflower is an amazingly versatile veggie. I have recently been using it as a low carb option for pizza crust, tacos, adding to quinoa, roasting, and well, soup!

On a chilly January afternoon, I was looking for ideas for using chicken stock I made after cooking a chicken for tacos. A friend mentioned having had roasted cauliflower soup. I just happened to have a cauliflower so I found several recipes and then modified based on what I happened to have in the fridge and spice cabinet.

The recipes called for a bay leaf. I didn’t have one so used a Trader Joe’s “21 seasoning salute”. I also used cardamom, one of my favorite flavors, so comforting… And some smoked salt I picked up in Napa.

I invited over two friends, one of whom has a dairy sensitivity so I used coconut milk instead of cream. And since this was now going to serve four, I added some leftover chicken meat. The recipe called for topping with bacon- didn’t have that but toasted some prosciutto-even better!

Scrounging in the fridge I had leftover shredded cabbage in a chipotle chili mayo from the tacos. I added that to spinach and arugula for a salad and made an avocado dressing.

The salad needed something sweet so I searched the cupboard for some dried cranberries I thought I had and also for some kind of nuts to add crunch to the salad. I didn’t find them, but… wait, here’s some candied ginger- wonder how that would work? Oh look here’s the dried, salted coconut we got in Maui at that waterfall place… So not your usual salad additives, but they worked great!

The ginger was sweet and a bit spicy and the coconut strips had just the right crunch. If you don’t have time to go to Maui (though you should make time…) you can get these online also. Ok, so now I had soup and a salad, but don’t we need bread? I decided to make a Brazilian cheese bread recipe I had found and love. Easy to make, low carb or gluten free and sooo good!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 cauliflower, chopped
A few peeled cloves of garlic
2-3 Tbsp Olive oil
3-4 cups chicken broth
Shredded chicken (optional)
1 Tbsp ground cardamom
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp Trader Joe’s 21 seasoning salute or 1 bay leaf and a sprig of thyme
1 cup of coconut milk
2- 4 slices of prosciutto

Drizzle the cauliflower and garlic with olive oil and roast at 375 for 30-40 minutes until browned and tender, then transfer to a large saucepan. Add broth and spices, bring to a boil and then simmer about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf and puree soup in blender or food processor, then return to pot over moderate heat and add coconut milk and chicken.

Garnish bowls with prosciutto crisped in oven for about 10-15 in at 375 degrees.
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I can vouch for her cooking (and baking!!) but now I guess I have to bug her for that “bread” recipe. And, maybe she’ll offer some insights into cauliflower pizza crust as well. Oh, I’m hungry now!

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