For one of the Matts: Cauliflower soup

Way back when I was starting this blog, in November of 2007 (WOW), I wrote a piece on cauliflower. I talked about how it was important to cook it in lots of water, how it made great soup, and how my favorite way of making it was a wonderful soft puree.
Well, I never gave any of you my cauliflower soup recipe, did I? What a shame. I was thinking about that recipe last night, and this morning, following an email chat with one of the amazing 20 somethings, who also happens to be one of the amazing Matts.
It sometimes seems to me that there are really only three or four gay names these days. Everyone seems to be named Justin or Jason. Or Brad. Or David. Or... MATT. In the last three or four years, I have met so many Matts that I can't refer to "Matt" anymore. They all have to have some "nickname" or "code," or I just have to use their last name, which is absolutely not fair. Way too much reminiscent of boarding school (if you went), or the military (if you served), or so many other things that tend to dehumanize us. Buddha only knows there's enough of those. So I try not to use the last name method of identifying people. Instead I assign nicknames, or use a given nickname. Or, in the case of one Matt, I just decided he should be named Trevor, and called him that for six months.

"The Matt in question" is not Trevor. In fact the nickname I gave him is "ciglio" because that is the word in Italian, for eyelash, and "the Matt in question " has the most beautiful eyelashes that I've ever seen. There is much about "the Matt in question" that could be called "the most beautiful," and in private, I shall do just that. For now, however, let's just refer to him as Ciglio .

Anyway, I made some cauliflower soup and had a portion left over. So I sent it off to Ciglio, and he wrote back this morning asking me to "break to him gently how much cream it had in it."

AH. The miracle of the "vegetable creams." There are a few veggies which, if cooked to the point of absolute tenderness, when pureed, will impart a quality to a soup or sauce that will CONVINCE you that there is cream in the dish. In fact, most veggies will do this. The problem with almost all of them, however, is that if you cook them to that point of softness, they either lose all flavor, or pick up a flavor that is decidedly not delicious. The three exceptions I know of are potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower. Potatoes and cauliflower, of course, have that white color that will convince you that there is milk, or cream, in what you're eating. But you can get away with using NO dairy in this soup. In fact, I suggest you do not. Dairy products will dilute the natural flavor of a soup. Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's not. I like the taste of cauliflower in soup, so I don't dilute it with dairy. And I DO love the pure white color it brings to things. To preserve that, you have to be a bit careful, but it's doable. Here's how I do it.

Now, to review, the "holy trinity" of soup making are onions, carrots and celery. But there are exceptions to every rule. So, for cauliflower soup, where I'm looking for absolute whiteness, we substitute leeks for onions. The reason for this is that onions brown very easily in fat, and we're going to use some of that here, but not a lot. We're also going to leave out the carrots here. Usually, carrots are added to give a "backbone" to the soup, as well as some sweetness. We're going to cook the cauliflower to the point where the sugars in the vegetable are released. We WILL keep the celery, because the verdant "vegetableness" of the celery brings out that part of the cauliflower's complex flavors.

Chop up about 2/3 of a cup of each of the vegetables. You don't have to be religious about the size. You also need a BIG head of cauliflower. Break up the florettes until they're nice and small. The smaller they are, the faster the soup will cook.

Melt two tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil in a big pot, and add the leeks and celery. Add a teaspoon or so of salt at this point as well. Saute' them gently, until you see the leeks begin to soften a bit. Then add a quart of stock, and two cups of water, plus all of the cauliflower. Let this come to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer.

DONT COVER THE POT. If you review anything I've written about the cruciferous vegetables, you'll know that covering the pot on them is the best way to make your house stink. Lots of air, lots of liquid, and you'll be fine.

Let that cauliflower cook until it's ridiculously soft. Try puncturing it with a knife. When you have no resistance whatsoever, you're there.

Let this cool, and then puree it in a blender , trying to use equal amounts of solids and liquid as you go along. You'll wind up with a very thick, pure white, creamy soup. You can now adjust this by adding salt.

I would leave it alone. You can float garnishes on it for color. Black truffle paste sounds good, as does a bit of tomato puree, or even a bit of bacon. Sometimes, though, a simple, pure white soup is really appealing.

Ciglio, this is for you, compadre. Waiting anxiously for you to move to the neighborhood, and we'll do it together.