Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Frequently, cooking in my kitchen is a lot like the television show “Chopped”–I see what is in the fridge or in the pantry and just go from there. I can’t say that what I make is any good (I usually like it; the rest of my family is upset that I did not follow a specific recipe. Happily, though, no one in my house is withering away to nothing.) Something unusual, though, happened recently–I found a recipe and actually had all of the ingredients on hand! I receive produce every few weeks from “Imperfect Produce” (I will write about that at a future time) and had received some of the ingredients I needed in the shipment that came that particular afternoon.

If I can find a perk in what feels like prolonged Chicagoland winters, it is that it is always the perfect time for roasting vegetables and making soup. (Ice cream is good year round, regardless of the weather. No matter how good it may be, though, I just don’t crave warm soup in July unless I am someplace where the AC is cranked up too high.) When the weather does eventually warm up, I will have to change my food preparation plans so as to keep the oven off.

I found the recipe for Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup using the wonderful world of Pinterest. (I had a head of cauliflower in my fridge which I wanted to use before it went bad–from a previous Imperfect Produce box–and then found the above mentioned recipe.) The ingredients included cauliflower, red onion, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, vegetable broth, butter, nutmeg, lemon juice, and salt. (A garnish was also included in the recipe, but I did not bother with that.)

I am pleased to say that the soup was a success! Not only did I enjoy I enjoy it for dinner, but I think that I enjoyed it even more the next day at work when I ate it for lunch. I honestly don’t know if it was the type of food that just tastes better the next day (like spaghetti) or if it just felt good to eat something delicious and filling that warmed me from the inside out on a somewhat crazy day at the office. I will plan to make this again but with doubling the recipe. There is a lot of winter left. I have no doubt that the opportunity and craving will come soon.