Cauliflower Soup with Potato and Leek

A simple mushroom topping transforms this heartwarming cauliflower soup in to a moor-ish bowl of goodness. Perfect for lunch or a light supper. Serve with crusty bread

Ingredients

Soup

• 1 small cauliflower, chopped
• 1 large leek, trimmed and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup pouring cream
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper
• milk to thin if necessary

Topping

• sliced button mushrooms
• finely sliced bacon rashers
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, optional
• chopped parsley to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. add the leeks and and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes to soften.
2. Add the garlic, potato and cauliflower and cook for another couple of minutes.
3. Add the stock, cream and salt and pepper.
4. Reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender.
5. Remove from the heat and using a hand held blender, blend until smooth. If like me, you want this to be velvety smooth, puree again in a stand blender. The soup can be thinned with the extra milk at this stage if required.

The mushroom topping

1. Heat a small frypan to medium high and add the bacon to the dry pan. Quickly saute until it is crisp and the fat has rendered out. Remove the bacon from the pan.
2. Add the olive oil to the bacon fat, and quickly saute the the mushrooms over high heat, until well browned. If you are using garlic, add it when the mushrooms are half cooked, otherwise it will burn and taste ghastly.
3. To serve, re-heat the soup and top with the mushroom and bacon topping and a sprinkle of parsley.