FLOWER POT KITCHEN: CAULIFLOWER CHEESE SOUP

25 Nov 2016

CAULIFLOWER CHEESE SOUP

OMGOSH SOOOO GOOD

This is so good I just want to eat it forever and ever and ever! Yes that good!!! Who knew, well I do now. This is what I call comforting spoon food that you just can't stop eating and you just don't want it to end which leaves you scraping the bowl so clean does it really need washing!

WARNING...Probably Best Eaten In Private

Quick to make, ready on the table in fifteen to twenty minutes and never any leftovers... Now if I can wait I will throw on some roast potatoes to cook so that I can make this even better if possible with crispy roast potatoes on the side for dunking dipping scooping and just devouring.

Prep / Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2 or maybe 1!)

1 head of cauliflower florets

50g butter

50g flour

750ml - 1 ltr whole milk

Sea salt

White pepper

100g Gruyere grated

100g Emmental cheese grated

200-400g medium mature cheddar

Roast Potatoes

1 kg King Edward potatoes peeled halved

Par boiled for 10 minutes, toss in

2 tbsp oil or fat, sprinkle with

Sea salt

Bake 200C / 392F for 40 minutes

Turn half way through cooking..

Bring a steamer or pan of salted water up to a simmer and add the cauliflower florets and cook until very tender, drain, season with sea salt and leave to one side.

Meanwhile melt the butter in a pan and add the flour, cook on a low heat for five minutes to cook the flour out, start to add the milk a good glug at a time and whisk in until smooth, keep adding the milk until you have a medium thin soup consistency.

Next add the cheese I love this really cheesy but you may want to add most of the cheese and then add more to taste, stir in and gentle simmer the sauce for five minutes, taste and season with white pepper and sea salt if needed.

Add the cauliflower to the cheese sauce and blitz with a hand blender or in a food processor until smooth, then sit back and enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.