Cauliflower Soup with Potato Emulsion and Crozier Blue Cheese
SERVES 6 – 8
You'll need an aerosol cream whipper to make the emulsion. Use a pasteurized egg if you want to avoid raw eggs.
FOR THE SOUP:
3 tbsp. butter
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small (1 1⁄2 lb.) head cauliflower, cored and cut into
small florets
2 1⁄2 cups milk
3⁄4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
FOR THE EMULSION:
1 large yukon gold potato, peeled
Salt
3⁄4 cup milk
3 tbsp. butter, cut into pieces
1⁄4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
1 egg yolk
Freshly ground black pepper
2 oz. Crozier Blue cheese or gorgonzola, frozen
1. For the soup: Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened, 10–12 minutes. Add cauliflower, milk, cream, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer, covered, until cauliflower is soft, about 20 minutes. Purée soup in batches in a blender until smooth. Return soup to pot, add nutmeg and adjust seasonings, and keep warm.
2. For the emulsion: Preheat oven to 250°. Cut potato into eighths. Place potatoes in a small pot, cover with salted water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, 30–35 minutes. Drain potatoes, spread in a single layer on a sheet tray, and let dry in oven for 5 minutes. Put potatoes into a bowl, add 1/4 cup of the milk and butter, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Press mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Bring remaining milk to a boil in same pot over medium heat, whisk in potatoes, and heat through. Stir in parmigiano-reggiano, transfer to a bowl, and let cool. Add egg yolk to bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper, and mix with an electric mixer until combined. Pass through sieve, then transfer to a cream whipper, following manufacturer's directions when you use it in step 3.
3. Ladle soup into bowls, grate Crozier Blue over top, and aerate emulsion over cheese. Garnish each bowl with a few capers, if you like.
we just made the soup, which was very delicate. our guests felt that it needed something more, maybe a pinch of cayanne or some parsley. we forgot the cheese. we all liked it, and it was great left-over on a nasty, rainy day.
i'd have liked a way to duplicate the foam taste without having to go buy a cream whipper.
we just made the soup, which was very delicate. our guests felt that it needed something more, maybe a pinch of cayanne or some parsley. we forgot the cheese. we all liked it, and it was great left-over on a nasty, rainy day.
i'd have liked a way to duplicate the foam taste without having to go buy a cream whipper.
Rating: 4