RECIPE – CAULIFLOWER CHOWDER –
Do we eat differently when winter sets in?
An avid reader of this post happened to mention that perhaps salads are not the most appropriate dishes for this time of the year, ( unless you are reading this from the southern hemisphere ). I had to laugh, actually never thought about it that way. You see, I come from a French heritage. Salads we had every day, summer or winter. But these were not always green leaf salads. They could be root vegetable salads, in season – carrot salads, beetroot salads, potato salads, or lentils and beans salads – cooked vegetables or beans that were cold, perhaps leftovers from the previous day’s meal. We added a little vinaigrette, onion, a few herbs, a pinch of salt…voila, salad!
What I think he was talking about was to have warm dishes such as soups or stews. But again these we also had all year around, no matter the season or the temperature. Soup was often the first course at the table. This soup was a light dish, something to clear the palate or to prepare it for the main course.I eat soup any time of the year. Yet I can understand different cultures. To some, soup is a winter dish, best to be eaten when coming inside on a cold blustery and wet day. To please this fine gentleman, why not share a recipe that will warm him up on these cold days!P.s. They are also the easy, tasty ones. You can make them in minutes after you walk in the door.
I hope it helps. Jacques x
Soupe du Jour
The French expression for soup of the day. Soup was eaten every day. Soups that were on the menu most days, where normally light soups. Soup made from a few vegetables simmered in water until cooked.
They could then be eaten as is, a nice warm broth and a few chunky vegetable or mashed to make it a bit thicker. With the advent of the blender, we can now reduce it to nice velvety consistency … Pure Comfort Food.
DID YOU KNOW?The word chowder has it origins from the old French Canadian settlers. It is derived from chaudron, which means, a large pot. One which is suspended over a big fire. When the French started to immigrate to Canada in the 1400s, the ‘chaudron’ was something they brought over on the boat ride from Normandy or Brittany. ________________
RECIPE
Cauliflower Chowder
This is definitely a soup that will warm you up!
It became popular in our home because one of our children would only eat food that was smooth, no chunks and absolutely – NO ONIONS. He would not be in the kitchen went it was prepared and by the time he was called to the table, it was blended to a creamy consistency. In fact even the word cauliflower might make him turn his nose up at it. So we just called it ‘white soup’, this he accepted and it became his favourite. Makes a least 6 good bowls
- 1 head of cauliflower – broken into small pieces
- 1 Onion – finely chopped
- 1 large potato – cubed
- 1 celery stalk – finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
- A pinch of thyme
- One bay leaf
- A pinch of salt & black pepper
- Soften the onion, the celery and the garlic in a drop of oil, it will only take a minute or two.
- Add the potato, cook for approx 5 minutes, stirring from time to time so nothing burns.
- Add the cauliflower, the thyme and bay leaf and enough water to cover it all.
- Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. You want the potato cooked and the cauliflower just soft.
- Remove the bay leaf
- You can just season with salt and pepper and eat it as is. Or you can mash some of it to make it a little thicker but still chunky. To make it nice and smooth pass it though the blender.
Sauté the onions, celery garlic and potatoes
Soup on simmer …all that is needed is a little time.
Velvety Cauliflower Chowder …
…the food we eat affects so much the animals , the environment & our health – our world.
Make a positive choice in your world …choose to eat more plants.
