Ham-Cauli Soup with Corn and Potatoes

The Occasion: Had a delicious ham and bean soup at a local bakery over the weekend and was inspired to cook some type of ham soup. Also, found cauliflower for sale at Redner's. $2.98 for the whole head.

The Recipe: Invented.

How it Went: Husband called this "phenomenal." So, I'd say it was a success.

What You Need:
Ham
Water
Bay Leaves
Cauliflower
Potatoes
Broth
Milk
Salt
Pepper
Frozen Corn
Provolone Cheese
French Fried Onions

Your Turn:
Wrap a smoked boneless ham in aluminum foil.

Place in a crock pot. Pour about half a cup of water over the ham. Toss in a few bay leaves.

Let it cook about eight hours on low.

Chop up one whole head of cauliflower and about three medium sized yellow potatoes.

Fill a large soup pot with the cauli and potatoes. Add about four cups of vegetable or chicken broth. Then remove the ham from the crock pot and dump into the soup pot the water from the crock pot. If the vegetables aren't covered, add a little more water til it nearly covers them.

Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 15-20 minutes until soft.

In the meantime, shred the ham with two forks.

When the cauli and potatoes are tender, add the ham. It will add up to about four cups of shredded ham. Add half a teaspoon of salt and about half a teaspoon of pepper.

Whisk 1 C milk with 1 T flour and pour into soup. Dump in half a bag of frozen corn, stir, and let simmer another 15-20 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Now, the key is the toppings. And like on the Penne with Basil Rosa Sauce and Bacon, it was Husband who discovered the secret ingredient that makes this recipe fabulous. The soup must be topped with a slice of provolone cheese and french fried onions.

Trust me. This is the key to this unique soup.

Enjoy for days... this recipe makes about five quarts of soup.

Mom's Cream of Cauliflower Soup

The Date: 1 November 2011

The Occasion: I bought cauliflower on a whim when I saw it at ALDI and figured I'd find a time to make this childhood favorite. Tonight worked because Pete's not a huge vegetable fan, and since he ended up finally catching my flu, all I made for him was a can of condensed Chicken and Rice Soup. Poor Husby. So I whipped up some Cauliflower Soup for me.

The Recipe: Mom's (via a seven-line email. Yep, it's that easy.)

How it Went:
My food processor recently went kaput. Went to process some walnuts the other day, dumped them in, pushed the button, and... nothing. I have put a new one on my birthday list. Since this recipe calls for finely processed cauliflower, I used my blender. This worked, but was not ideal. I could only blend 4 or 5 florets at a time, and then had to scrape the processed cauliflower out from around the blades with a spatula.
Also, I somehow missed (in the seven-line email) the instruction to cook the cauliflower "until very tender." I dumped the cauliflower and broth together, let it get hot enough to become bubbly, made the roux, added it in, and then served myself a bowl. While it was certainly edible, it did not taste like Mom's. Gotta let that cauliflower cook down. Oops. I dumped it back in and let the whole thing cook for another 20 minutes.

What You Need:
cauliflower
chicken or vegetable broth
butter
flour
milk
Perfect Pinch
black pepper

Your Turn:

Cauliflower confetti

Chop one head of cauliflower into small florets, then chop fine in a food processor. You're going for cauliflower confetti.

Dump cauliflower into a large soup pot.

Add just enough chicken or vegetable broth to cover the cauliflower (about 2 cups broth). Add a few dashes of Perfect Pinch and black pepper.

Now, cook 15-20 minutes until cauliflower is tender.

Make a roux by melting 3 T of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then adding 3 T of flour. Stir well while it bubbles. Add 1 C of milk (or a little more if you like your soup less thick) and whisk continuously until it thickens.

Add the roux to the cauliflower. Stir.

You can let it simmer a bit longer, or serve immediately. I remember Mom serving it with some shredded cheese on top, but it's good without it too.

Mmm...

Want the seven-line version?

chop the cauliflower fine in a food processor

cook it in chicken broth until very tender (just enough broth to cover it)

add some perfect pinch too  

make a roux using melted butter and flour, maybe 3 tablespoons of each

add about a cup of milk or maybe 2 cups whisking the whole time as it thickens

mix it into the cauliflower mixture

now you have soup