Sunday, September 18, 2005

Weekend Cookbook Challenge #2 Silvana's Velvet Cauliflower Soup



The recipe for the WCC #2 comes from "The Best" by Paul Merrett, Silvana Franco and Ben O'Donoghue. I loved this show when it was on the Food channel. 3 cooks/chefs competing against each other to cook the best dish in different categories. This was a dish cooked for their "Best Summer Soup" competition.

Instead of picking a cookbook first and then a recipe, this week I picked the ingredient first. I bought the world's biggest head of cauliflower yesterday at Millarville. It weighed just under 5 pounds and cost $3.00.



We really enjoyed this soup. I think I went a little too heavy on the cauliflower. The recipe just calls for a large head. I used 1/2 of the gigantic head and it was a bit too much. We also added a couple of handfuls of sharp cheese for Scott, since this wasn't a cauliflower cheese soup. The croutons were yummy too. Thanks to Scott for the great picture of the bowl of soup!





Silvana's Velvet Cauliflower Soup
adapted from The Best, recipe by Silvana Franco.

750 ml milk
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch green onions
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
1 large head cauliflower
2 tb olive oil
2 tb grated parmesan cheese
1/2 small ciabatta loaf
100 g pancetta, cubed
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400'. Pour the milk into a pot. Roughly chop the garlic and add to milk. Finely chop the white part of the bunch of green onions and add to the pot. Add the cumin and tumeric and salt and pepper. Break up the cauliflower into small florets and add to the pot. Bring to the boil and simmer partially covered for 20 minutes, until cauliflower is tender.

Meanwhile, toss the oil, parmesan cheese and some pepper in a bowl. Cube the bread and coat with the cheese. Spread out the cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp and brown.

Dice the pancetta and fry over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towel and set aside.

Finely slice the remainder of the green onions.

Puree the soup, either in a food processor or with a hand blender. Check the seasonings. Ladle into bowls and top with the green onions, croutons and pancetta.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good looking soup. I liked that show too. I didn't know there was a cookbook.

tschoerda said...

oh my god, i love this show! i'd love to have the book too, but ordering it via ebay or amazon in austria would cost me about 2 to 3 times as much as if i bought it in stores in britain.

*sigh*

great recipe, isn't it?

Laura said...

i have been searching all day for the summer soup ben made on that episode... do you have the recipe? the thai soup with shrimp?

Sara said...

Yes, it's in the book. Send me your email address and I'll send it to you.