I have always loved this recipe in it’s original form (from the Thermomix EDC cookbook, April 2014 edition), but I have adapted it slightly to give it a little more zing.
Apart from being a lovely soup to share with your family, this is also a great starter at a dinner party … it can be made in advance and simply reheated … it ticks lots of boxes by being gluten free, vegetarian, nut free (see note below) and Paleo, and can be “dressed up” to look impressive.
Every time I have served this soup guests cannot believe there is no flour in it … it is merely the cauliflower and leek cooked and pureed the way a Thermomix does so well.
Buy a whole cauliflower, cut it into florets, wash and put aside 800g for the soup, and keep the rest in a sealed container in the fridge to add to salads or other cooked dishes during the week … always great to have ready to go.
If you don’t have your own veggie stock concentrate, then buy a commercial stock, preferably organic. And if you wish to keep this nut free, substitute toasted pepitas for the pistachios.
Buy a whole cauliflower, cut it into florets, wash and put aside 800g for the soup, and keep the rest in a sealed container in the fridge to add to salads or other cooked dishes during the week … always great to have ready to go.
If you don’t have your own veggie stock concentrate, then buy a commercial stock, preferably organic. And if you wish to keep this soup nut free, then use toasted pepitas in place of the toasted pistachios.
SAFETY NOTE:
It can be a little scary pureeing hot food in the Thermomix … it does an amazing job, but the noise it creates when doing this can be disconcerting. So there are some basic rules I ALWAYS follow when pureeing hot food:
REMEMBER you are dealing with a very hot liquid … so always take care
NEVER overfill the bowl (if you have a lot of soup to puree then split it and do it in two lots … it is still very quick, and you will get a lovely smooth result)
I set my timer for 1 minute (if you puree for any less, the soup will not be as smooth and creamy)
I slowly increase the speed from speed 1 to speed 6, taking AT LEAST 15 seconds to do this so that my timer has now counted down to 45 seconds
Once I am on 45 seconds, I know I can safely increase my speed to speed 9 and allow the Thermomix to continue pureeing
ALWAYS take your time with pureeing, don’t be in a rush, and enjoy the results
- 1 leek, washed and chopped roughly
- 40g olive oil
- 800g cauliflower florets
- 600g filtered water
- 2 tbls veggie stock paste (or 600g commercial stock to replace the water/paste)
- 40g butter
- 6 sprigs parsley, roughly chopped, or more to taste
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- Basil and Parsley pesto ( see here ) with extra olive oil added to make it quite runny
- Toasted pistachios
- Place leek and olive oil into TM bowl and chop 3 seconds / speed 7, scrape around bowl
- Sauté 5 minutes / Veroma / Speed 1 with MC off
- Add cauliflower, water and veggie stock paste (or commercial stock) and cook 15 minutes / 100 / speed 1
- Add butter and cook for a further 5 minutes / 100 / speed 1
- Add parsley and blend for 1 minute, slowly increasing speed from speed 1 to speed 9 (see safety note above)
- Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
- Serve drizzled with the basil and parsley oil, and scatter over the pistachios
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