Cauliflower & Almond Soup

Move over Kale, there is a new superfood in town! Enter the beautiful cauliflower with just one serving makes up 73 per cent of our daily recommended Vitamin C intake! Creamy organic cauliflower poached in homemade almond milk ensures a match made in heaven! I add some roasted cauliflower florets (with the green leaves) to the soup and finish it off with a sprinkle of dill. An elegant, hearty and filling soup.

Adre’s Kitchen Classic

Serves 4

NOW I am renowned for ‘pimping up my soups’ with all sorts of things, taking the humble bowl into something more substantial. My topping suggestions would be: more roasted cauliflower florets and roasted flaked almonds.

Hand Blender

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small cauliflowers, cut into florets
• 500g potatoes, peeled, cut into cubes
• 3 large leeks, washed, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 litres vegetarian stock
• 250ml almond milk
• few sprigs of fresh dill, leaves removed
• salt & ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup toasted almond flakes (opt)

1. Preheat the oven to 200c
2. In a medium saucepan on a medium heat, add the olive oil & leeks, sauté, covered, until soft preferably without any colour . Add the garlic and stir until fragrant for about 3minutes
3. Meanwhile, while the leeks are softening, add a cup of cauliflower florets to a roasting tray, season well, and drizzle with olive oil,  pop into the oven for 15 minutes, until cooked through and a little charred, remove.
4. Back to the leeks, once soft, add the veggie broth, almond milk and potatoes and simmer until soft (no cauliflower yet).
5. Add the cauliflower florets and simmer for 7-10minutes until the cauliflowers are soft.
6. Remove the saucepan from the heat, blend with a hand blender until desired consistency, I like my soup to have a bit of texture, adding more broth if the soup is too thick.
7. Season with salt and white pepper. Add the dill and stir through.
8. When ready to serve, reheat the soup and serve topped with the roasted cauliflower pieces onto each bowl and some toasted flaked almonds

Almond Milk: I prefer making my own Almond Milk using By Nature Almonds which are raw, local and unpasturised. Alternatively you can use Rude Health almond milk which comes with a price tag BUT there is nothing else swimming inside as most almond milks are packed with preservatives and other additives.

Read behind the label: ALMONDS See here to read about sourcing the right almonds

STORE CUPBOARD ESSENTIAL: White Pepper – more potent than black pepper, never use more than a tiny pinch. white pepper and black pepper are both berries of the pepper plant but processed differently, while the black pepper is picked when ripe with the outer layer intact, with white pepper the outer layer is removed (by fermentation) leaving it harsher and less aromatic. We use white pepper if we don’t want to see bits of black pepper in a white background. Sometimes it’s okay say when seasoning a risotto but for me a white pepper works best when seasoning a white soup.