I sometimes wonder how supermarkets ever make any money on fresh produce. Maybe they don't. Maybe that whole department is a loss leader so people will come and buy breakfast cereals and Pop Tarts. In winter in Quebec, a cauliflower sells for about 3 bucks, but this week I picked one up for 99 cents because it had developed some brown spots (heavens!). The store can't just trim that stuff off because customers wonder just what unwholesome fungus must have been removed, but I can and did. The rest of it made this:
- Chop coarsely and sweat one large cooking onion in about 4 tbsp of butter
- Add chopped cauliflower and light chicken broth (I usually use Campbell's but with two cans of water to one of broth) to cover. Simmer until cauliflower is tender.
- Blend until smooth (an immersion or dipstick blender makes this very easy).
- Adjust body by adding milk. Season to taste (s&p and maybe some nutmeg).
You can stop here and still enjoy this soup; the kids like it this way. A lot of recipes call for this plus grated old cheddar. The tanginess of the cheese works. But just try this base plus
chopped fresh coriander. It's unbelievably good.
I make a lot of soups along the lines of this one. It's pretty algorithmic:
- potato and leek
- carrot (add minced ginger and garlic to the onions and some white wine to the stock; hold the milk; hold the nutmeg but add curry powder and lemon juice to seasonings)
- parsnip (schmancy option: puree a boiled beet and swirl in some of this for that marbling effect)
- potato and watercress/spinach (blanche cress—abundant unsalted boiling water for a couple of minutes followed by shocking in cold water and squeeze out—to reduce bitterness; cook potato in half stock, half milk then blend with cress)
Wow, sounds delicious! Mmmn, fresh ingredients, yum. I've pretty much living on granola these days.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the show 'Good Eats'? Alton Brown is great!
It occurs to me that the idea of anything "algorithmic" might strike some as rocket science...
ReplyDeleteI was even thinking that the theme of the blog chould be these cooking "algorithms", ie, basic recipe patterns into which any ingredients can be inserted, and whose steps could be understood rather than memorized. But you are right that for public consumption, we better find a better name than "algorithm"!
ReplyDeleteps. On the cost of vegetables: If you think about land maintenance, planting, irrigation, harvest, washing, packing, long-distance transport, unloading and repacking at local distribution centers, short-distance transport, delivery, storage, display, and cashier check-out, it is hard to see how potatoes are so cheap at NYC delicatessans. I will one day assign this as a problem to the students in my first-year physics class.
ReplyDelete1) Hogg: when you present this problem to your students, don't forget to factor in the incredibly cheap cost of harvesting and preparation (by migrant farm workersin the fields/ non-union labor in the City bodegas).
ReplyDelete2) PMC/Dear Reader: Try toasting some whole cumin seeds in a skillet and then grinding them fresh onto the cauliflower soup as a finish (you can even swirl it in for effect). With parsnip soup, I usually add a medium-sized potato (and sometimes a carrot) for extra body and also to offset that particular parsnippy sweetness - the carrot also lends a very pleasing color. Ginger (ground, or fresh, cooked with veggies) and a little coriander (seeds, ground) are a nice seasoning option. If you use potato, milk is not really necessary, but can be added at the end to bind it, and for a little extra creaminess.
Oh bliss - a blog that's actually useful!
ReplyDeleteDid you know I had this cauliflower in my fridge for a week now (given to my by a local farmer no less) and not the faintest idea how to use it, except cut it up and serve it with a dip. I will now get my butt off my chair and go make soup.
Thank you!
Lisa: Good point. In fact the homework problem should be "place an upper limit on what the potato industry could possibly be paying its workers".
ReplyDeletePMC: was that 99 Canadian cents?
ReplyDeleteJust made the soup, basic version. Damn! That is good! We made ours super-peppery, no milk or cream, and it was delicious.
ReplyDeleteCDN$0.99, no less. Was your cauliflower priced for rapid sale?
ReplyDeleteJust made this again, but with potato and onion, instead of cauliflower. I added a bit of cream at the end to make "supermarket vichyssoise". Awesome!
ReplyDeletejust made this again, with broccoli and some grated cheddar cheese. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteMade this with the one and only pumpkin grown in our garden this year. Added heavy cream rather than milk and garnished with diced Spartan apple and toasted pumpkin seeds. It was important to balance the seasoning with a bit of acid (I used apple cider vinegar), otherwise the soup tasted flat.
ReplyDelete