Cauliflower & Comte Soup

Cauliflower and cheese. Two of the best partnerships that has ever been. I rarely eat cauliflower cheese, as much as I love it, because I always feel that its really unhealthy. It seems last Saturday, I decided that making it as a soup was healthier. I don't suppose it makes that much of a difference really.. unless you use mountains of cheese, of course.

This was simple and quick to cook. I shaved some pieces of raw cauliflower at the start, to save for a garnish - the texture along with some extra cubes of cheese is just lovely.

Ingredients:

1 whole cauliflower, chopped
1 white onion, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 large potato, peeled & chopped
1 tbsp. butter
400ml vegetable stock (cube is fine)
400ml milk
1 tsp. English Mustard
120g Comte cheese, diced finely.

Method:

Put the butter into a large pan and melt over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently for about 4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and potato and stir through quickly. Then add the stock, milk and mustard. Bring to the boil and then turn to a simmer for about 30 minutes.

Take off the heat and use a potato masher if you like the soup chunky, or if you want it smoother - use a stick blender. Put back on the heat and add most of the cheese (reserving a little for garnish) along with some black pepper. Stir and take off the heat. Serve with the raw shavings of cauliflower, the remaining cheese cubes and some snipped chives (if liked). Delicious!


Note: I considered putting cream in at the end. You can of course but I am glad I didn't - it wasn't needed. But it would add more richness if you would prefer that.