Cauliflower Puree

Oh my goodness.... My mom and I wanted something different than mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner. Last year at a work function the caterer had made something like a Cauliflower Puree. I convinced my mother that we should try it and all I can say is we BOTH loved it. It was better than potatoes! Is that even possible?

A must try! (a link to the site where I got this recipe is above)

yield: Makes 1 serving

active time: 10 min

total time: 20 min

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb cauliflower florets, chopped (2 2/3 cups) (We used a pound)
  
• 1 garlic clove, smashed (We used 4)
  
• 1/3 cup chicken broth (We used 2/3 which was *just* a tiny bit too much; a tablespoon or two of flour thickened it up and didn't hinder the fabulous taste)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (We used sea salt)
  
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream (We used half and half)
  
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter 9I snuck two tablespoons in :D)
  

Preparation

Simmer cauliflower, garlic, broth, and salt in a small saucepan, covered, until cauliflower is very tender, about 10 minutes. Purée mixture with cream and butter in a food processor until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), or mash with a potato masher or a fork (Which truly works just as well).

Cooking - Homemade Potato Soup

One of the things I used to love to do was play in the kitchen. I would throw together all sorts of things, see what happened and then afterward (whether I failed or succeeded) THEN do research online. I wanted to make something my OWN.

I remember making a cream cheese based sauce that was divine, it would blow an artery out, but it was delicious. My specialty has always been desserts (go figure!), but today I had some potatoes leftover and realized I had never made potato soup!

So, realizing I had nothing to lose (except some potatoes and soup) I set about "playing" again. Here is my recipe followed up with links to other recipes (that after I started mine cooking, I took bits and pieces from).


Muses Potato Soup
*9 potatoes mostly medium size though there were a few small ones (cut as cubed as possible lol though mostly in thin quarters)
*3 cans of cream of mushroom soup (3 cans of milk as well)
*2 tablespoons fresh garlic
*5 cups of water
*3 tablespoons of butter
*1 cup chopped carrots
*4 celery stalks (without leaves) diced up
*1 Onion diced
*dried parsley
*Chicken Bouillon (5 cubes?)
*1/2c Flour (Still waiting to see if I need to thicken it up, if I do this and the 1/2 & 1/2 will be used)
*2c half and half
*shredded cheese (for garnish)

Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and turn it on high for three to 4 hours (or low for 6-7 hours).

Now, I'm just waiting. So i thought I'd look into other people's recipes. Most of them use chicken bouillon for their base and water (I used cream of mushroom...ooops), but they all added flour and half and half as a mixture to thicken it up. I may have to do that closer to the end, I just don't know how the creamy soup will thicken up in cooking. I called for reinforcements because I could really see the flavor of onion in it and sent my mom to the store for an onion, some dried parsley and a few chicken bouillon cubes.

Was it a success? We just don't know yet. But I can tell you two things: 1. it smells divine cooking and 2. This was fun.

Other recipes:
Joe's Potato Soup for the Slow Cooker
Rick Davidson Slow Cooker Potato Soup
Slow Cooker Creamy Potato Soup