So, can we talk about cauliflower? I promise it won't be as boring as you think.

Do you know its secret?
How is it that such a common, everyday vegetable that's been around forever could hold such undiscovered awesomeness?
Seriously.
Cauliflower.
It's the magic vegetable, and there's been another planet realignment in the Splatgirl Creates kitchen.
Because did you know that cooked cauliflower, pureed in the blender, becomes something velvety and lush that looks and acts pretty much exactly like cream?

It does.

And I just have one question:
How has this fact escaped me for thirty-plus years? And how is this not like the first thing they teach you in cooking 101?

Anyway, I have this awesome baked potato soup recipe that's been a house favorite for years, but it's like evil in a pot because the whole soupy part of the soup, or what would be known in other recipes as the broth, is a roux based white sauce that's made with one and a half sticks of butter, a quart of whole milk and a pint of heavy cream per batch. And it's not that I am a fat-o-phobe (obviously) but geez, that's a bit much even for me, and we haven't even discussed the bacon or the grated cheese garnish. So tasty, yes, in a once a year kind of way, but my real issue with the recipe as written is that all that heavy duty dairy seriously does not agree with me, and it's the kind of soup that pretty much forces you to eat at least two bowls full at a sitting.

Anyway, having recently discovered the wonder that is pureed cauliflower, I decided a pot of makeover baked potato soup was in order on this very un-March 25th-like day.

I steamed and then pureed a whole head of cauliflower in the blender and made the soup without any butter or milk, and only about 1/2c. of heavy cream. It turned out just as good or better than the original:

So yep, that there bowl of soup, that luscious, creamy delicious looking soup, is mostly made with cauliflower, and eating it, you'd never guess in a million years. Heck, I'll even go out on a limb and call it healthy.

So next time you're contemplating cooking up a cream soup, try cooked pureed cauliflower in place of all or most of the dairy and thickening. Sounds hokey, but trust me, it's fabulous.

Labels: cooking food faux creamy baked potato soup