Cauliflower

This is the last soup that I will be posting until after summer.    After all, hot simmering soup just screams hot sunny days doesn’t it.  Whatever, more soup this fall!!  It’s a little weird in its preparation.

Ingredients

1.   32 ounces (divided into 4 8 ounce cups) vegetable broth
2.   1 tablespoon of minced garlic
3.   1/2 cup minced onion
4.   2 cups chopped celery
5.   1 entire riced cauliflower
6.   4 ounces of shredded white cheddar cheese
7.   4 ounces of shredded swiss cheese
8.   1/2 cup chopped broccoli stem
9.   8 ounces (divided into 4 2 ounce cups) of water, yes, the amount is important.
   10. 16 ounces of crimini mushrooms, cut into small slices.
   11. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
   12.  1 teaspoon of dried chives (that’s the green stuff in the picture)
   13. 6 tablespoons of Basamic Vinegar

   Recipe  (This is the weirdest recipe I’ve ever done, trust me)

   1.  Into a small pan, put 1 of the veggie broth cups and 1 of the water cups into the pan use this liquid to steam the hell out of the broccoli stem.
   2.  Remove from the steam, leave the liquid.
   3.  Add 1 more part of the veggie broth and water into the liquid and bring to a new boil, steam the hell out of the celery, and then remove and leave the liquid.
   4.  Add the remaining liquid and the remaining veggie broth and water to a bigger pan, bring to a boil, add all the remaining ingredients, except for the cheese.  Lid and reduce heat to medium, simmer/boil for 10 minutes.
   5.  Take your mushrooms and olive oil and balsamic vinegar and saute until the mushrooms are browned and soft (like sautéed mushrooms look)
   6.  Remove the lid of the pan and look at your veggies.  Take a wand mixer and puree it all into a giant pool of veggie yummy.  It should be pretty smooth and there should be no chunks.  It will be a slightly unappealing green yellow color (unless you like veggies, then you love that color)
   7.  Reduce to a light simmer, you want there to still be heat and liquid loss but not a lava-like splatter of veggie goodness all over your kitchen.
   8.  Pour in all the cheese in and start stirring it up.  When the cheese is completely mixed in, the soup is done.  I would suggest letting it cool to near edible levels then give it a good stir before serving, but it’s your tongue.

   This should make between 6-8 servings of soup, depending up on how you like your soup.  There is protein in the form of cheese and purines in the mushroom.  If you want a cheesier flavor, you can add a cheesier or stronger cheese  Gouda would work well, so would Gruyère.