Easy Cauliflower Soup with Dijon and Parmesan

You know those nights were just nothing other than a hot homemade soup will do? But you also don’t want to wait three hours for it? Here’s your answer. I had such a night recently.

Returning from an evening distance run, I was too chilled to settle for anything less than soup, but too lazy tired to bother with something fancy. Even roasting the cauliflower was out. So this was my solution! We devoured this soup, with or without the croutons.

Ingredients

Serves 3-4 as an entree

Prep: 15 min      Cook: 20 min

• 1 small to medium white onion, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
• 2 plump cloves of garlic, minced or put through a press
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup shaved parmesan (it’s worth it to get the quality, aged, raw milk parmesan)
• 2 heaping tablespoons coarse ground dijon mustard
• Optional garnishes (to serve): chives, more shaved parmesan, olive oil, cracked pepper

Crouton Ingredients (optional)

• 2 pieces of bread (I used sourdough)
• 2 tbs olive oil or melted butter
• 2 tbs dijon mustard (coarse or fine ground will do)
• salt to taste

Directions

In a large saucepan, saute the onions in the oil over medium-high heat until soft and transparent. Add the cauliflower, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and garlic and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower is soft. Turn off heat and stir in the parmesan and mustard. Transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Serve with optional garnishes or croutons (see below)

Crouton directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chop or tear the bread into bite size pieces. Spread over a baking sheet and toss the bread pieces with the oil, mustard, and salt. (I mixed with  my hands to make sure the mustard got spread throughout). Bake until crisp and browned around the edges, about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them! They burn pretty easily.

Enjoy!