Cauliflower soup - yum yum yum!

Back in January I supplied my first set of recipe links. Last night, I finally got around to making the cauliflower soup from The Wednesday Chef. What was I waiting for?! Months have gone by during which I could have been filling my belly and waxing my virtuous soul with this elixir from the gods. Sorry. I'm embellishing a bit. But this is a really good soup. And you know what the sign of a good soup is? My husband doesn't like soup  - he loved this soup.

The bonus: it's good for you in a way lots of cauliflower soup isn't. It gets all its yumminess from healthy things - no added cream or cheese. Just leeks or onion, cauliflower, water, olive oil, salt and lemon juice. That's it! It also calls for a finishing touch of a dusting of piment d'espelette. That's a ground Basque red pepper that has a mild heat. I don't have any so substituted plain paprika though next time I might use the hot, or even my smoked sweet. Luisa Weiss, the Wednesday Chef blogger suggests also adding croutons but I didn't miss them. (Although we had toasted pita with a little cheddar melted on them on the side. And a shrimp avocado salad.)

I'd show you a picture but it got eaten up too quickly for me to stage a shot. But it pretty much looked like the shot on Luisa's website. I mean, it's cauliflower soup.

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

1 leek or 1 onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cauliflower, green leaves and trunk removed
Water
Salt
1/2 lemon
Piment d'Espelette, optional
Homemade croutons, optional

Instructions:
1. Peel and clean the leek and cut into thin slices, discarding the tough green tops. If using the onion, peel and thinly slice. Warm olive oil in a heavy pot and gently sauté the leek or onion in the olive oil until wilted, 5 to 7 minutes. In the meantime, wash the cauliflower and slice thickly. Add the cauliflower to the pot and stir to combine. After 2 to 3 minutes, add enough water to cover the vegetables.
2. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and, using an immersion blender, purée until smooth and creamy. Add salt to taste and the juice of the 1/2 lemon. Taste and, if your socks don't roll up and down, add the juice from the other half. I had to keep adding juice a squeeze at a time and then finally, kaboom, it was perfect. You could also pass extra lemon wedges at the table.
3. Serve dusted with piment d'Espelette or homemade croutons.

Serves 4 to 5 (or, um, 3)