I made this soup the first Sunday of the New Year after the holidays.  It was time to get back into the Sunday Soup routine that I had started last year.  Everyone loved the idea of having soup on Sundays for dinner, and it made it easy for me too to plan the meal for Sunday – it was going to be soup, that’s it! Nothing else! Initially I toyed with the idea of serving soup with French bread or toasted baguette or a salad or something else, as long as it wasn’t just soup.  But after thinking about it more, I came to the conclusion that the reason I started this Sunday Soup thing in the first place is so dinner could be simple and light, especially after a whole week of eating.  So I decided to just keep it like that – simple – just soup and that’s it!  And the family seems to like it.  The question I get asked now every Sunday is, “What soup are we having today?”

Last year I made a whole variety of soups just concocted from my head. Made them all year long and stuck with the Sunday Soup routine like a religion.  Then this year I realized I’m just tiered of making the same old soups that I have been making for a while now.  In an effort to broaden my repertoire of soups I bought a cookbook called Soup of the Day. 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year by Williams-Sonoma, author Kate McMillan.  And so far I like it. The book has 365 soups all categorized by month. But I bounce around the book based on what ingredients I have at hand.  The Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic soup is what I made first, just as the recipe is in the book – with none of my own modifications, and it tastes pretty darn good just the way the recipe is.

Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup
From Soup of the Day, 365 recipes for every day of the year

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 head cauliflower, stemmed and cut into small florets
• 3 Tbsp heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• Chopped chives for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
• Cut off the top of the head of garlic, drizzle with the olive oil, and wrap loosely in foil. Roast until tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic flesh from the skins and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft, 5 minutes.  Add the roasted garlic and, using a wooden spoon, mash it into the onions.  Cook until the mixture is bubbly and starting to caramelize, about 3 minutes.
• Add the sherry and bring it to a boil, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot, and let boil for 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
• Add the cauliflower and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the cauliflower is very tender, 20-25 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
• Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender.
• Return to the saucepan over medium heat. Add the cream and bring the soup just to a gentle boil. Season with salt and pepper and serve, garnished with chives.