Cauliflower Stilton Soup
A nice winter cauliflower soup made with simple veggies, cream, and dotted with flavorful Stilton cheese.
Cauliflower Stilton Soup
Jump to RecipeI got a nice shiny immersion blender for Christmas (Thanks lover!) and I’ve been itching to give it a shot. I also got a great cookbook from my sister that has a whole chapter on soups – some of which would be perfect for a dreary Washington weekend. Unless you are a bit dim, I’m sure you can see where this is going.
I’ve had cauliflower soup before in a curry form, but this recipe looked really interesting. Instead of spices the soup is flavored with heavy cream and chunks of Stilton cheese. I loved it!
Homemade croutons add some much needed texture to this dish.
Cauliflower Stilton Soup
- Serves:
- Serves 3-4
- Prep Time:
- Total Time:
Helpful Equipment:
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A nice winter cauliflower soup made with simple veggies, cream, and dotted with flavorful Stilton cheese.
Ingredients
Instructions
1) Chop the onion and celery.
2) Trim the greens off the cauliflower and slice into florets. Cut some of the florets in half.
3) In a large heavy pan, melt butter and then add onions, celery and cauliflower. Let this cook for 5-10 minutes over high heat until everything starts to soften.
4) After veggies have cooked for about 10 minutes and are soft, add the stock and milk and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer and then cook, covered, for about 25 minutes or until the cauliflower is extremely tender.
5) Take the soup off the heat and blend it with immersion blender (or regular blender if you do not have an immersion one).
6) To make croutons, take old bread and chop up a piece or two of it. Toss the bread with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Toast at 350 degrees until they are very brown and crunchy.
Starting the soup
This soup is actually very easy to make. It only has a bit of work to do and start to finish I’d say it takes about an hour. First, you’ll need these things:
Chop up the onion and celery. No need to get too worried about size considering we are going to blend everything up later. On the cauliflower, trim off the greens and cut down the stalk and then slice it into florets. Some of the florets should be cut in half. Again, don’t worry about getting them perfectly even.
In a large heavy pan, melt your butter and then add your onions, celery and cauliflower. Let this cook for 5-10 minutes over high heat until everything starts to soften. It’s fine if some of the veggies start to brown a bit, but the goal is just to soften them, not caramelize them.
Besides the veggies and butter, you’ll need this stuff:
After your veggies have cooked for about 10 minutes and are soft, add the stock and milk and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer and then cook, covered, for about 25 minutes or until the cauliflower is extremely tender.
Next, take the soup off the heat and blend it up! If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can just do it in batches in a normal one.
Making the croutons
Good croutons add a lot to this soup. The crunchy, salty bites work great with the creamy soup and cheese. I used old bread and just chopped up a piece or two of it and tossed the bread with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt.
Toast these in a 350 degree oven until they are very brown and crunchy. You can use any bread for these really. Stale bread is just fine!
Finishing the soup
Once your soup is blended, return it to the pan and heat. Once it’s hot, whisk in your cream and Stilton cheese. Be sure to whisk well so the cheese melts nicely. The soup should get pretty creamy and then just let it simmer for another five minutes or so (still whisking). That will help it thicken more.
I also crumbled some additional cheese to add as a garnish for the soup.
Be sure to taste the soup for salt and pepper before serving. The cheese will add some saltiness to the soup, but I definitely had to hit mine with a good pinch of salt. I also served mine with additional toasts on the side. They’re awesome to dip in the soup.
The thing that shocked me about this soup is how perfect the stilton works. It’s not quite as strong as a gorganzola or traditional blue cheese so it doesn’t overpower the cauliflower flavor at all. It just adds a nice creaminess to it and the croutons are almost swoon-worthy.
I’m pretty sure that this soup reheats awesomely, but I can’t say for sure because I’m eating my first bowl of it while writing this post…
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Hello! My name is Nick Evans and I write and manage Macheesmo. I started Macheesmo 11 years ago when I was just learning my way around the kitchen. I love to cook and love everything food-related, but I have no formal training. These days I focus on fast, accessible recipes with the occasional “reach” recipe!
I’ve posted almost 2,000 recipes on Macheesmo. For each one, I do my best to give full explanations of what I did and tips on what I’d do differently next time. I’ll bring up the tricky parts and the easy parts.
I hope you can find something and cook something!
Oh god, yum. Soups are such an awesome way to get some less than favorite veggies into your diet. I love cauliflower, in any form, but my kids? Not so much. Something about pulverizing the snot out of them, though, would be more favorable.
I love my immersion blender. A definite staple in the winter months.
Nick! You are killing me. I’m trying to cook all light food between now and February for my wedding, but this looks phenomenal. I saved it for later and hope I get an emersion blender for a wedding gift. :) MMMMMM stilton…
Neat soup and blender…aren’t they fun to work with
last time only had boccoli and Swiss. It was tasty too
Looks amazing. I’ve made broccoli Stilton soup, which works as been awesome too. I’ll try the cauliflower next time.
Do you think white wine would go well with/in this soup?
@Jeff definitely. You could sub out some of the stock for wine I think.
Also, you can sub olive oil for the butter and probably skim milk for the cream if you are trying to keep resolutions and so forth…
Yum! Soup sounds delish! Don’t you feel like a kid again with all these new toys? I cleaned up this year with a Kitchen Aid Mixer, potato ricer, cast iron skillet, springform pan. These last few years, I didn’t think I needed anything for Christmas from my parents but now that I started cooking more, my wishlist is a 1/4 mile long.
I love immersion blenders AND cauliflower puree soups… mmmmmm.
If you want a new recipe to try out that new toy, try one of my faves:
http://downsized76.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/the-bacon-soup/
I have no idea where it came from. My friend got it from a relative and passed it on to me.
Now this looks like real comfort food! The croutons and the selection of cheese are just yummy.
You are going to love your new toy :)
Great recipe! I wanted to try and recreate the cauliflower stilton soup I had in Wales and this came pretty darn close!
Two suggestions for novice cooks like me:
1. Use low or medium heat when cooking the vegetables. When using high heat, my vegetables started to burn on to the bottom of my pan before five minutes was up. I had to take out the vegetables, wash the pan and then put the vegetables back in, so that the soup did not taste burned. If you're going to use high heat, it should be less than five minutes.
2. For those of us without the nifty mixing-wand-thing, another pot needs to be handy in order to dump the two batches of mixed soup from the mixer. This was my first time using a mixer and, while I had no incidents, I did not realize that I would have nowhere to put the soup while I mixed the second batch.
Other than that, everything was great! Thanks again for sharing!
I am not known for my culinary skills but I found this recipe easy to follow and the soup was delicious. Possibly the best dish I have cooked to date. Thanks so much! :)
Hey Emma, so glad you had success with it! Thanks for reading!
Southern Ontario, late August 30C outside and I’m in the kitchen making your soup. Stumbled on your recipe and couldn’t resist. Being a woman of a “certain” age I have been cooking longer than you have been alive. Wonderful soup, every bit as good as recipe sounded! Couldn’t help but make a few changes. Added 6 slices of crisp crumbled bacon. Also added several cloves of garlic (crushed) when c.
elery and onion were nearly done. Used other half of cauliflower, cooked till tender in finished soup. Too bad I have to share this soup, I could demolish the whole thing. Thank you soooo much
Just wanted to say I randomly stumbled across this recipe yesterday and went out and bought cauliflower last night just so I could make it immediately. My three year old and I concur, this soup was delicious. Thanks!