I’ve invented a new soup for all of us cauliflower lovers! Calling it “White Velvet Soup”.

It’s made with a lot of cauliflower, garlic, onion, tarragon, nutmeg, butterbeans, ground almond and almond milk. Just over 150 calories a serving (I’m making 10 servings with 2 heads of cauliflower – my lunches for a couple of days next week!)

I’m thinking that this would be perfect with either some crispy bacon sprinkled on top, or my other idea is a few slices of chorizo sausage fried with some cubes of bread (to the flavour oozes out of the meat) and sprinkled on top. The soup (without bacon, etc) is vegetarian – also dairy free (as using almond milk) but may contain traces of nuts!

White Velvet Soup

Preparation Time:          25 mins

Cooking Time:                  1 hr 15 mins

Serves:                               10

Calories per serving:       157.0

Ingredients

Cauliflower, Raw, Average                         –  830g

Beans, Butter, Canned, Drained                 –  1 Can/250g

Onions, Brown,                                          –  2 Onions/200g

Garlic, Raw, Average                                  –  2 Cloves/6g

Oil, Olive, Extra Virgin, Average                 –  2 Tbsps/30ml

Butter, Spreadable, Slightly Salted, Lurpak –  1½ Servings/15g

Almonds, Ground                                         –  85g

Almond, Milk, Alpro                                    –  500ml

Water, Mineral Or Tap                                –  2 pt 8 fl oz

Tarragon, Dried, Ground                             –  2 Tsps/4g

Nutmeg, Ground, Average                          –  1 Tsp/3g

Stock Cubes, Vegetable, Organic, Kallo   –  1 Cube/50ml

Method

(1) Put oil and Lurpak in a large pan and melt over a medium heat.

(2) Finely chop onion and add to pan. Stir for about 10 minutes until translucent – don’t allow to brown! Finely chop the garlic cloves and add to the onion. Continue to stir for 5 minutes more.

(3) Add the stock cube to the pan and about 2 and a half pints of boiling water. Stir. Break the cauliflower into florets and add to the pan. You can also use the stalk of the cauliflower (not the green leaves) but cut the stalk up into 1cm cubes before adding. Drain the tinned butterbeans and add.

(4) Cover and bring to the boil. Once it’s reached boiling point, lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for an hour, checking and stirring every 15 minutes.

(5) Add the almond milk, ground almonds, tarragon and nutmeg.

(6) Continue to simmer for 10 minutes.

(7) Finally, use a hand liquidiser to puree the soup mixture.