Creamy Cauliflower & Fennel Soup

a simple soup, perfect for rainy days

I wrote about this soup in a recent newsletter and thought I’d give you a more detailed recipe. Whenever I am looking to make something new, I draw inspiration from a few places.

1. My fridge and pantry. Can I make something delicious (and somewhat easy) with things I already have?

2. Any recipes I’ve saved on Instagram or NYTCooking.

3. Physical cookbooks! I love flipping through them.

4. Wandering aisles at local stores — particularly cute (albeit overpriced!) stores like Butterfield Market or Young’s Farm.

On this particular day, I knew I wanted to make a soup, so I took the Instagram/NYT route and was immediately inspired by two recipes (NYT Cauliflower Soup and Ina Garten’s Cauliflower & Celery Root Soup). I decided to combine the two to make my own. Here is a breakdown:

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INGREDIENTS

• Rosemary oil: 1 cup olive oil + 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

• 1 yellow onion, chopped

• 1/2 head fennel, diced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

• 1 carton chicken stock

• 2 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp black pepper

STEPS

1. Make your rosemary oil. In a skillet, cook rosemary sprigs in the olive oil on a very low simmer for 5 minutes. Remove heat and let cool. Once cool, drain the rosemary and reserve oil.

2. Begin your soup. In a heavy pot (I used my Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven), sauté your onions and fennel in some olive oil until elastic and translucent. Add your garlic and cook until fragrant.

3. Add chicken stock and cauliflower florets. Bring to a boil and then eventually simmer. Add salt & pepper.

4. Cook until cauliflower is tender (about 10 minutes). Remove heat and transfer veggies/stock into blender. Note: complete this step in stages—you never want to fill your blender too high or else it will explode. Blend contents together while slowly adding 1/4 cup of your reserved rosemary oil. Slowly blending the oil helps the soup to become thick & creamy!

5. Serve your soup with some extra drizzled rosemary oil and freshly cracked black pepper (I was taught in culinary school to never add black pepper to soup, but I am ignoring that rule)!

ENJOY!! Xxx

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