You can use cauliflower to thicken any soup. Simply blend cooked cauliflower with some broth from the soup until it is silky smooth. Add back to your soup. There is no need to cook the soup any further since the cauliflower is already cooked.

After creating the cauliflower leek soup last week, I realized that not only did the cauliflower add thickness to the soup, it also added a silky creaminess that you normally only get with lots of fat.  This gave me the idea to make a cream of asparagus soup with no cream.

Asparagus has been good at the farmer’s market, so I bought a few bunches last week.  We ate the tender parts roasted on the grill but I saved the tough stems to use for the soup.  How’s that for frugal!!!  Here is my simple recipe that was super healthy and quite delicious.  I will definitely make this again.

Cauliflower asparagus soup

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped in 1 inch pieces
• End from 2-3 bunches of asparagus
• 4 cups of water (or chicken or vegetable stock)
• 2t chicken bouillon (omit if using stock above)
• white pepper and salt to taste

Put the cauliflower and asparagus in a large pot with the water (or stock) and bouillon.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.  Let cool to at least room temperature and then blend until very smooth.  The stems are fibery so you’ll need to strain it with a coarse strainer.  I didn’t have a suitable strainer and actually strained this through a mesh bag that onions came in.  It totally worked!!!  Season with white pepper and salt.  If you don’t have white pepper you can use regular pepper.  White pepper really is perfect for this, though.

More ideas to thicken soup with cauliflower!

I have more cauliflower and vegetables lined up to try more variations on this.  I can’t wait to try this cauliflower soup with:

• brocolli
• roasted peppers
• pumpkin
• bacon and onion
• bacon, onion and clams (like chowder)

I better cut this post off now because I keep thinking of new variations.  I hope this gives you ideas of your own.

The post How to thicken soup with cauliflower- cream of asparagus appeared first on Frugal Cooking.

There are certain vegetables that go with practically anything, like potatoes.  Potatoes taste great, are inexpensive and easy to cook.  Unfortunately, they aren’t the most nutritious vegetable.  Considering what they’re made of (pretty much just water and starch) they’re as much a vegetable as wheat and oats are.  Because of this, I don’t buy potatoes often (except for sweet potatoes, which are incredibly nutritious.)

You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this.  I’m actually asking myself the same thing.  So to cut to the chase, I had cauliflower and leeks from the farmer’s market that I needed to use and thought I might be able to make a potato leek soup, without the potatoes.  It was so simple and came out so well that I’m posting the recipe so I can make it again.

Cauliflower leek soup

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped in 1 inch pieces
• 3 small leeks (or 1 big one), chopped then cleaned well
• 1T olive oil
• 4 cups of water
• 2t chicken bouillon mix
• salt and pepper, to taste

Saute the leeks in olive oil until starting to soften.  Add the cauliflower, water and bouillon and cook for an hour or until everything is very soft.  Let cool and then puree in a blender until very smooth.  Heat and serve.

This soup has the most amazing thick and creamy texture with a very mild flavor.  You’d almost think it was full of cream or butter.  The cauliflower makes a great base that doesn’t add any strong flavors.  I’m going to try this same formula but substituting the leeks for asparagus or celery.  You could also add some cream, butter and/or cheese.  I tried the above recipe plain and then added some parmesan cheese.  I actually think it was better plain.  Maybe a drizzle of a nice fruity olive oil just before serving would be nice.

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Today was one of those days.  I got home from an 11 mile trail run in the Santa Monica mountains and was HUNGRY!  I don’t know why, but I was really craving pho.

If you didn’t know, pho (actually phở) is a Vietnamese noodle soup.  There are many variations but the most common varieties are made with a special beef broth, fresh herbs and rice noodles.  Therein lies my first problem-  I didn’t have any of the ingredients to make the broth (let alone 3 hours to simmer it) or any rice noodles.  This is where some might have given up and just gone out.   I, instead, took what I had and came up with something so close (at least in my opinion) that my craving was completely satisfied.

The recipe that follows is really crazy.  It’s really the anti-pho because it is so different from traditional pho but does keep some of the base flavors.  I’m not sure I even want you to try to make it!  I’m documenting this exactly as I made it partially so I can make it again.  It is delicious but I wouldn’t want this to be your only pho experience since real pho is amazing.  The following recipe made one big serving.

Faux Pho

For the broth:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1t chicken boullion
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground ginger
• 1 pinch ground pepper
• 1 pinch onion powder
• 1/2t agave (or sugar)
• 1T fish sauce
• 1/4t kitchen bouquet (just for color)

For the soup:

• Mung bean noodles, soaked in hot water for 5 min
• 2oz left over pot roast, sliced thin
• 2oz left over tri tip roast, sliced thin
• 2oz imitation crab
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced thin
• 1T chinese hot chile sauce (like Sriracha)
• 1T fish sauce
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1/8 cup cilantro leaves, coarsly chopped

Put the broth ingredients in a glass container and microwave until boiling.  Layer ingredients in a big bowl in the order above.  Microwave the broth again to bring to a boil.  Pour broth into the bowl.  Mix and eat.

Remember that this is not real pho.  If you served this to someone from Vietnam they would probably not even recognize it as pho or even be able to eat it.  If you’ve never had pho, go find a pho restaurant and get some because it’s usually really cheap and tasty.  Then you can attempt to make your own once you know what it’s supposed to taste like.

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