Roasted Cauliflower & Piquillo Pepper Soup

Last week I received a text from my mom, with a photo very similar to the one above, that read:

"OK so if you want a guest blog item...cream of roasted cauliflower, parsnip and piquillo pepper soup!"

YUM. I immediately reply back, asking for the recipe ASAP. Her response was no surprise to me.

"Well you know me..." and she proceeded to tell me her process and the ingredients, but of course didn't measure anything out. 

This is exactly how I learned how to cook. Doing everything on the fly, tasting along the way, and then creating a dish that was delicious...but I could never tell you how exactly it all came together. 

Starting My Engineered Nutrition has helped me combat this problem and I've gotten much better at my recipe documentation. I'd best describe this soup as roasted and smokey, having a texture similar to potato soup. However, unlike potato soup which is thick, heavy and usually high in fat, this soup is creamy yet light and low in both carbs and fat! So without further ado, here is Dorinda Gunther's recipe (with measurements and interpretation by yours truly) for Roasted Cauliflower and Piquillo Pepper soup.

Roasted Cauliflower & Piquillo Pepper Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes 

Servings: 6 cups

Ingredients

• 2 medium parsnips
• 1 small head of cauliflower
• 1 1/4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt (I used BACON SALT I found at a local spice shop, Kosher salt will also work here)
• 2 tsp garlic, chopped
• 3 roasted piquillo peppers (these come in a jar in the grocery aisle with the pickled condiments), chopped
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• Optional: additional pureed piquillo peppers to garnish soup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Loosely chop parsnips and cauliflower into large pieces and toss with 3/4 tbsp olive oil and salt. Spread evenly in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for about 25 minutes or until vegetables have turned golden brown. 

2. In a large soup pot over medium high heat, sauté garlic in remaining olive oil for 1 minute. Add cauliflower, parsnips, piquillo peppers, cumin and pepper. Stir in chicken stock and bring mixture to a boil. Once at a boil, cover pot and reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. 

3. Once the soup has reduced down, carefully blend mixture until pureed (or reaches your desired consistency). This can be done in a blender, food processor or with a hand-held immersion blender. I used my blender and scooped the soup cup by cup from the pot to the blender. 

4. Return soup to pot and mix in coconut milk. No need to turn on heat for this step. Soup is now complete! I also topped my soup with a spoonful of additional purée of the remaining jar of piquillo peppers.

Nutritional info (1 serving)

160 Calories - 5 g Protein, 17 g Carbs, 8 g Fat

Coconut Cream of Asparagus Soup

Yum

Annnd we're back! Sorry for the gap in posting, I had the brilliant idea to leave on vacation for 2 weeks and move immediately after I was back. I managed to pack and move within a 3 day time period - thank goodness for movers! Now I am finally getting settled AND I have a kitchen that I can call my very own...which means plenty more delicious creations to come!

I'm the type of person who will go out to eat at a restaurant, order a dish I end up loving, and decide that I can make the exact same dish at home. This recently happened at a restaurant called Reverb here in San Francisco. I had the Asparagus Soup, which had a lemon coconut ice cream with grilled asparagus. I loved the flavor profile and made a note to create my own recipe with these same flavors.

My recipe isn't exactly the same, as I didn't include the lemon coconut ice cream. I did, however, use coconut as the cream base to the soup as opposed to using heavy cream like most cream based soups. 

While the name suggests that this is a heavy, creamy soup it is actually quite the opposite. The base of the soup is asparagus and chicken broth, with just 1/3 cup of coconut milk added to the entire recipe, along with plenty of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

This soup is ridiculously easy to make. There are only 7 ingredients and the most challenging task is sautéing onions and asparagus. The recipe makes quite a bit of soup, but it freezes nicely. You can have this hot out of the pot or you can chill the soup and enjoy on a hot summer day!  

Coconut Cream of Asparagus Soup

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 7 cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 6 cups asparagus, chopped (2 bundles)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (full fat, shake can before opening)
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Sauté  onion and butter in a large pot over medium high heat until onions begin to soften, 5 minutes.
2. Add asparagus and salt and continue to sauté for another 3 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once at a full boil, cover pot with lid and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes. 
4. Once soup has cooked down, transfer in batches from main pot to blender and blend until liquified. Be VERY CAREFUL at this step! The soup will be extremely hot. I also advise that you have a good, powerful blender and make sure it is large enough to handle all of the soup. If it isn't - blend in batches.
5. Transfer soup back to pot and stir in lemon juice and coconut milk to combine.

Nutritional info (1 serving, approximately 1 cup)

97 Calories - 3 g Protein, 9 g Carbs, 5.5 g Fat