Disappointing cauliflower soup

I had a small but beautiful cauliflower and having at first thought of the obvious, cauliflower cheese and then considered trying aloo gobi – potato and cauliflower curry, I decided that cauliflower soup was really what I fancied. I’ve become a little cocky about soups (note to self, how about cockaleekie? Must try another time!) – yes, I’ve got into the habit of throwing things in, adding seasoning etc and all is well. Obviously some soups are extra successful, some are just soupy, but they’ve all been pretty satisfactory. So today, with my beautiful cauliflower I felt confident.

I’d hoped to make the soup last weekend, but somehow didn’t, then for whatever reason it didn’t happen on Monday, Tuesday we were out, Wednesday we went to Bristol and had doughnuts, so today ended up as cauliflower soup day. I was really looking forward to it and had been mentally planning – have a potato to thicken, have leeks instead of onion, save some of the florets and cook separately to add when the soup-maker has finished its programme, plenty of seasoning to lift the delicate flavour, some ham or bacon or chorizo to give a little smokiness… Yes I was all prepared.

I made the soup in the usual way, I watched the time so I could cook the separate florets so they were still a little crunchy, I had my bowl, my spoon, toast in the toaster, and the soup-maker buzzed as it finished. I took off the lid and to be honest, it didn’t smell of very much at all. It was a pale green and as I poured it out it seemed very thin. Disappointment! It not only looked thin, it tasted thin – in fact it didn’t taste of very much at all except a mild chorizo flavour lurking very much in the background.

I’m not sure I will bother making cauliflower soup again, although I will look up a recipe to see where I went wrong – or maybe I didn’t, maybe it’s always feeble. Next time I have a lovely cauli I will probably just cook it and have it with white or cheese sauce!