Cauliflower and Hazelnut Soup

It’s the awkward mid-way mark in the semester between Halloween and Christmas, and I am beginning to find myself surrounded with zombie students who are tired and in the process of (struggling to) meeting the rest of the semester’s deadlines. Myself included. With a 5000 word literature review due in a week and another essay to begin, as well as other student-life commitments, exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.  No, the elimination cleanse I talked about in my last post isn’t happening- too much work and too little time, unfortunately. I am drinking green tea like crazy to prevent myself from getting real coffee, and my efforts to stick with a gluten-free diet are sad, to say the least. The icy cold weather has also begun to descend upon Scotland, stimulating my cravings for carbs and warm, hearty food. 

So, what does one do when stressed, busy, cold, and hungry? Make delicious and warming soup, of course.  This recipe is adapted from What’s Cooking Good Looking, and tastes even better with oatcakes and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.  

Cauliflower + Hazelnut Soup
*makes 8 servings
8 cups cauliflower, chopped
8 cups vegetable broth
1 leek, chopped
5 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
5 tablespoons dried sage
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, plus a few to top
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
rapeseed oil
salt and pepper, to taste
extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
nutritional yeast, for garnish

In a large soup pot, sauté the garlic and leeks over medium heat. Once soft, add the cauliflower. Add a tablespoon of dried sage and season with salt and pepper. When the cauliflower begins to brown, add the vegetable broth.

Bring the soup to a boil for five minutes, before reducing it to a simmer. Cover and cook for half an hour.

Add the hazelnuts, cider vinegar, and dried sage. Using either a stand blender or immersion blender, purée the soup. Add the nutritional yeast and season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy with oatcakes or bread 🙂

Wishing you much love and happy kitchen adventures,
Gen

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12 Nov This entry was published on November 12, 2013 at 8:04 pm. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged dairy-free, food, gluten-free, healthy, healthy food, recipe, soup, vegan, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.