Springhill Stories

While outside the rain drizzles down on the golden leaves I try to keep the cold out. Heating helps, but a nice warm hearty soup is even better. Cauliflower soup is quite common in Belgium, but this version is a bit spiced up with a nice curry mix, cinnamon and turmeric, giving it more punch. First I wanted to add some almond powder to soften the taste and give it a nice smoothness, but I still had a bowl of hazelnuts that I picked last month. As I found out on the chocolate and zucchini food blog, hazelnuts are also perfect to combine with cauliflower. Of course you can also buy some in the supermarket, which is much easier. When you roast fresh hazelnuts make sure you remove as much of those brown skin as possible, as the skins might give a slightly bitter aftertaste. Ready for a bowl of instant warmth…here we go.

You don’t need that much to prepare this soup, what you need is :

• Olive Oil
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 medium sized cauliflower
• some good vegetable stock
• 80 gr. roasted hazelnuts (or grounded almonds)
• salt/pepper
• a handful of chives

So now we can get started :

1. Chop the onion and cook it together with the spices in some olive oil in a big soup pot. Do this on medium heat for about 2 minutes and  don’t forget to stir.
2. Trim the cauliflower into florets and add them to the onion and spices Mix everything and let it cook for another 5 minutes or until they start to sweat and turn golden.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock and make that the cauliflower is completely covered. Let it all simmer for another 15 minutes until the florets are soft.
4. Grind the hazelnuts in a blender until you get a nice powder and add this to the soup, stir it in well and add some salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.
5. You can now purée everything in a blender until you get a nice smooth and thick soup.
6. Serve in bowls and add some chives on top to give it a fresh touch.