Is there anything as delightfully customizable as soup?
When I can’t think of anything to do, I throw together a soup, whether on the stove or in my Instant Pot. This weekend, I went to the grocery store and just wandered through the produce section until I had some ideas. I like to pick out one main thing and then work from there. On Saturday, it was cauliflower.
I decided to get a parsnip to go with my cauliflower. Parsnips are an oddly underrated root vegetable in my opinion (and yes, I have opinions on root vegetables). They’re sweet in flavor like a carrot and roast up into a delightfully creamy texture.
The great thing about this recipe is that everything roasts up together on the same sheet pan. Anything that cuts down on the post-cooking cleanup, I’m a fan! Also, this recipe is very adjustable. I’m putting down the directions that I used, but there are easy ways to make it vegan and of course, the toppings are infinitely adjustable!
1 head of cauliflower
1 bulb of garlic
1 parsnip
1 shallot
2 cups veggie broth
¼ tsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp pancetta
Chives
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coarsely chop cauliflower and parsnip. Place upon a sheet pan and stir with olive oil, salt and pepper. Remove the outermost layer of the garlic bulbs papery skin and chop off the top of the individual cloves. Drizzle olive oil generously over the cut ends of the garlic and wrap the entire bulb in foil. Place wrapped bulb on a corner of the sheet pan and put into the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring parsnips and cauliflowers halfway through. While this is roasting, slice the shallot thinly.
Once the veggies are done roasting, add to a pot with one and a half cups veggie broth and half a cup of water. The roasted garlic will be very soft, so squeeze three cloves out of the skin and into the pot. Throw in half of the sliced shallot. Drop in a bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
While the soup is simmering away, pan fry the pancetta for a minute. After a minute, add the other half of the sliced shallot and fry until crispy.
After the 30 minutes of simmering are done, add the Greek yogurt and red wine vinegar to the soup. Very important note here, remember to remove the bay leaf before the next step! If you have a submersion blender, you can blend it directly in the pot. Otherwise, carefully transfer to a regular blender and puree the soup until smooth. At this point, you can add either water or veggie broth till the soup has the desired thickness. I wound up using three cups of liquid in total, two of veggie broth and one of water.
When serving, top the soup with the crispy pancetta and shallots and some chopped chives.
A few notes on options here:
You might notice that you have a number of roasted garlic cloves left over. This is something I definitely don’t see as a problem! Roasting transforms the garlic by removing the sharpness and creating a rich creamy texture that, quite frankly, I could eat straight! If that doesn’t float your boat or you’re not single like yours truly, spread the garlic on buttered, sliced bread for truly decadent garlic bread.
If you want to make this soup vegan, omit the Greek yogurt. I’d actually double the red wine vinegar to compensate for the loss of that tanginess. In addition, hold back a few smaller cauliflower florets and fry them up with the shallots to use as a topping.
If you reduce the amount of liquid used (though you’ll want it to at least be enough to cover the roast veggies), this can be transformed into a mash and served as a side dish.
The Pick-up Chef 