food, History, recipe, soup

Italian Cauliflower Carrot Soup Recipe

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(photo: cauliflower carrot soup finished with extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and Sriracha sauce).

One of the prized crops on the small Calabrian family farm Nonno Lattella worked until a a few years ago was Cauliflower and like many Italian farmers he respected the vegetable for both it’s taste and value.  In fact, Italy is the top producer of Cauliflower (and broccoli) in all of Europe and many farmers continue to rely on cauli-fiori as a top crop.  There are four major groups of cauliflower (viz., Asian, Northwest European biennial, and northern European annuals) but the ancestral form is from Italy (including the oddly shaped Romanesco cauliflower).  Like broccoli, cauliflower is full of sulforaphane a phytochemical which may protect against cancer (only when chopped or chewed, so make sure you take your time eating the vegetable!).

Like many Italians, our family enjoys cauliflower roasted, pickled, sauteed, breaded and fried, and my personal favorite, as a main ingredient in a hearty soup (click here for our list of 7 hearty Italian soups). 
Ingredients:
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 5-6 cups of fresh, filtered, water
  • 1 medium onion
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 head of cauliflower (just the florets) 
  • 2-3 medium sized carrots
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Parsley

(photo: the oddly shaped Romanesco cauliflower courtesy of andrewflynn.com)

Process: 
Add olive oil to a large stock pot and saute’ diced onion, garlic, and carrots for about 10 minutes.  Add the cauliflower florets and water (you can roast the cauliflower prior to adding to the pot, if you’d like, but it’s not necessary).  Cook until the ingredients are tender (about 30-45 minutes).  Add Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  Puree the mixture using a hand blender.  Add a splash of fresh extra virgin olive oil, a bit of fresh parsley, and some red pepper flakes prior to serving.  

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Author: Lead Italophile (and/or lover of all things Italian).

4 Comments

  1. Romance Book Concepts Blog
    January 27, 2011 at 10:50 pm  ·  

    The Italian S Virgin

    […] our pasta, pesto, tomato sauce soup, risotto, chicken, lasagna, cookbook and ea […]

  2. patdakat
    February 6, 2011 at 5:19 pm  ·  

    this recipe kicks up by adding rice or pasta and a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce per serving, as well as grated parmesan,locatelli or asiago
    pat

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