Cauliflower & Chickpea Potato Soup
I finally broke down and bought myself a Vitamix. If you don't have one and you're a fan of homemade soups, this is a kitchen must-have. I've had an old ice cream blender for over a decade that I've used a few times to make soups...I know, what was I thinking. It took forever and didn't really give me a smooth, silky soup like I wanted. When I needed to make two batches of my tomato soup for a harvest party, some friends of mine lent me their Vitamix and I couldn't believe how I'd gone through life this long, without one! I've since used it for soups and crepes. More soups are definitely in my future as are smoothies-n-things, of course!
But back to soups...this one caught my eye as I love roasted cauliflower. Together with chick peas, golden potatoes and a little curry, this soup has so much flavor. It's the perfect soup to warm you up on a cold winter day.
Ingredients
Serves about 5-6
- 1 cauliflower head, cut into florets (about 4 cups total)
- 1, 15oz. can of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), drained
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 medium golden potatoes, peeled and cubed, about 2 1/2 cups
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- For Garnish: Reserved roasted cauliflower/chickpeas, red pepper flakes, fresh thyme and heavy cream (optional)
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 400F degrees.
- On a large baking sheet, toss the cauliflower florets, chickpeas, and peeled, whole garlic cloves with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt and paprika.
- Roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and set aside, reserving about 1 cup for garnish.
- In a large stock pot, heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil and add potatoes and black pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add vegetable stock and water and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes become very soft.
- Remove from heat and add cauliflower and chickpea mix, stirring to combine.
- In two batches (adding 1 teaspoon of curry powder to each batch), puree in blender until silky smooth.**
- Return both batches to large stock pot and stir in heavy cream and remaining tablespoon of salt. (I found this amount of salt to be just right however, you can scale back if desired, simply salting to taste).
- Ladle soup into bowls and top with reserved cauliflower mix, red pepper flakes and thyme leaves. With a spoon, lightly drizzle heavy cream if desired.
** When doing batches, make sure each has enough liquid so you obtain the perfect soup consistency.
All photos ©2017 Jonathan Stiers | Recipe adapted from Floating Kitchen
