Winter is definitely here in the Southern Hemisphere. Some mornings it has got down to + 2 degrees, which is a lot colder than it sounds (in case there are any fellow Scandinavians reading this). Believe it or not, I'm actually feeling the cold a lot more than when I lived ten hours north of the Arctic Circle. The reason being that Norwegian houses are warm little humidity cribs, and Queensland houses are built to keep the heat out rather than the other way around... Which is why I've gone into hibernation-mode and like spending the cold nights under a blanket with a massive cup of tea or a big bowl of home-made soup to help me defrost.Today I made this totally divine cauliflower soup, which is a perfect dinner on a winter's night. LCHF of course, without any of the nasties the store-bought soups are full of. It's also quite quick and easy to make. Cole's has cauliflower on special this week, for only 1 dollar each, therefore this recipe is a great option if you are trying to live frugally. Who said living la vida low carb has to be expensive!
Ingredients
1 massive cauliflower (mine was more than 1.2 kg!)
1 chicken stock cube
300 ml cream
250 g bacon
nutmeg
salt
pepper
Procedure
Separate/cut the cauliflower into bouquets and bring to boil with around 800 ml of water (this is a rough estimate, as I used a pot with a large surface area and therefore needed quite a bit of water to cover the cauliflower). Let boil for roughly a minute, then remove 200-300 gram of the cauliflower from the pot and let place it in a bowl of cold water. These cauliflower bouquets will be added in to the soup later. They are supposed to swim around in the soup whole and are only lightly boiled to retain a bit of crunch.
Add the chicken stock to the remaining cauliflower bouquets in the pot and let it boil for twenty minutes.
Fry the bacon while the cauliflower is boiling.
When the cauliflower is soft, puree it using a hand-blender. Some of the water will now have evaporated, but there's still a fair bit of water left in the pot. Keep it, and add the cream. Now bring to boil again and add spice after taste. Let simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the cauliflower previously set aside. Now either add all the bacon into the soup, or just sprinkle it on top of the soup - or you can do a bit of both.
Enjoy!
This adds up to about four servings
The inspiration for this recipe came from the beautiful blogger Caroline. I changed the quantities somewhat from her recipe (http://fotballfrue.no/2013/05/01/oppskrift-onsdag-blomkalsuppe/), as I suspect that Norwegian cauliflowers are a bit smaller than the monster veggies here in Australia.
Ingredients
1 massive cauliflower (mine was more than 1.2 kg!)
1 chicken stock cube
300 ml cream
250 g bacon
nutmeg
salt
pepper
Procedure
Separate/cut the cauliflower into bouquets and bring to boil with around 800 ml of water (this is a rough estimate, as I used a pot with a large surface area and therefore needed quite a bit of water to cover the cauliflower). Let boil for roughly a minute, then remove 200-300 gram of the cauliflower from the pot and let place it in a bowl of cold water. These cauliflower bouquets will be added in to the soup later. They are supposed to swim around in the soup whole and are only lightly boiled to retain a bit of crunch.
Add the chicken stock to the remaining cauliflower bouquets in the pot and let it boil for twenty minutes.
Fry the bacon while the cauliflower is boiling.
When the cauliflower is soft, puree it using a hand-blender. Some of the water will now have evaporated, but there's still a fair bit of water left in the pot. Keep it, and add the cream. Now bring to boil again and add spice after taste. Let simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the cauliflower previously set aside. Now either add all the bacon into the soup, or just sprinkle it on top of the soup - or you can do a bit of both.
Enjoy!
This adds up to about four servings
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| I like my bacon well done, but the pieces were not really as charcoaled as they look here |
The inspiration for this recipe came from the beautiful blogger Caroline. I changed the quantities somewhat from her recipe (http://fotballfrue.no/2013/05/01/oppskrift-onsdag-blomkalsuppe/), as I suspect that Norwegian cauliflowers are a bit smaller than the monster veggies here in Australia.
Thanks for keeping your blog alive.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever experimented with low carb curries?
Do you know of any low carb curry pastes?
Take care!
PS: the new quest cookie dough bars are too good to be true!
And thanks for reading, even though my updates come so rarely :) But after coming back from overseas, I have a plan about weekly updates. With all my new cookbooks I have inspiration for a while, so I should have heaps to blog about (time permitting...)
DeleteI haven't tried any low carb curry pastes, sorry about that. Not sure how the sugar content is in the ones they sell in super markets? I might have a look in my new books to see if there are any curry recipes, and if I try any, I will let you know.
Thanks for the tip about the Quest bars. I have heard about them. Their ingredient list is actually not too bad, and I like that they are sweetened with erythritol, as I my stomach doesn't like any of the other sugar alcohols. I might give it a try
Thanks in advance for looking up the curry recipes in your new books.
ReplyDeleteIf you try the new Quest cookie dough bars, do put them in the oven for 6min @180. I cut one bar in half, place it on some baking paper, and it comes out like a real cookie - soft and warm on the inside, and slightly crunchy on the outside!
YUM!
Delete