Recipe #92, Quinoa Caprese
Hello again! It’s only been a few hours since I finished the last post, but I have been hard at work in the kitchen all morning, preparing for our New Year’s Eve feast. I had originally planned to launch this blog on New Year’s Day… resolution and all, plus my OCD makes me want to start new things on the 1st… but I had a change of heart and decided to “carpe diem”. I believe that translates loosely to “seize the carp!” Or something like that… Earlier this week one of my favorite authors passed away unexpectedly, just one book shy of her promised 26 alphabet mystery novels. RIP Sue Grafton… I will forever wonder what “Z” would have stood for…
With that in mind, I decided not to waste another day! Today we kicked off the morning with a hearty bowl of… Cheesy Cauliflower Soup, naturally. Sure, it was supposed to be for lunch, but garlic and horseradish crusted PRIME RIB!!! It’s what’s for dinner. I’m not risking being too full to gorge later on that deliciousness! So Ree Drummond recipe #91 came up to bat, and true to form, it made enough to feed an army. Something to note if you decide to recreate this meal: you should plan to invite 14 of your closest friends. Or just cut the recipe in half, your choice! I should have known better when I saw that it called for 8 cups of chicken broth, plus a cup of heavy cream (told ya!), PLUS 1/2 cup of half-and-half… It was going to make too much for my little family of three. By the time I realized it was going to positively FILL my 8 quart stock pot, I was committed to the full-sized recipe. So here’s the deal: either Ree Drummond grows radioactive cauliflow-a-sauruses on her ranch, or the proportions are off here. The recipe only called for one head of cauliflower, but frankly this was water-thin until I “fixed” it. Hey, if you like thin soup, then this is for you! But when I think of a cheesy soup, I want it to be thick and have texture. It started out so promising too…
I started it last night, with the onions sauteed in bacon fat and tossed with the cauliflower florets until they were fork-tender… perfection! Then I drowned them. After the point of no return with the chicken broth, I added the roux, hoping that would salvage it. I used my immersion blender sparingly at first, then whipped it within an inch of its life, trying to thicken the soup to a consistency remotely close to the picture. And then I gave up. I decided to throw it in the fridge… ok, the porch, since my refrigerator is full and it’s about 5 degrees outside… Luckily Ree gave advice on this contingency, and said if you want to make the soup a day ahead, just stop at the step before adding the cheese, then put it in during reheating. So I put it on the stove this morning to see if it had improved overnight, and guess what?? Still thin. Plus, a little bland. Not a winning combination. I decided to withhold judgment until I put the cheese in (there’s salt in cheese, right??) and tossed those aforementioned bacon pieces in. I’m not a fan of salty food, but underseasoned food is just SAD. These additions made a big improvement, flavor-wise, but darned if it wasn’t still too runny. Then the BRAINWAVE!! I had several bags of frozen riced cauliflower in the freezer from an ill-fated attempt at a gluten-free diet for my son (long story short, it didn’t happen, after $500 spent at the grocery store on weird stuff like this). I microwaved one 11 ounce bag and tossed it in, mixed that with the ol’ immersion blender, then added a second bag without blending to give texture. Problem solved! The finished product looked just like the picture once I garnished with a little parsley and bacon, and it was universally enjoyed by both me and the kids. So the moral of this story is: only add about half the broth and call it good. Either that, or be sure to invest in a large stock of 1-quart Ball jars! Happy New Year! See you all in 2018…
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/cheesy-cauliflower-soup-3294212.html
Share this:
