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INGREDIENTS
- 1 small cauliflower
- 100 g peeled onion
- salt
- 90 g butter
- 40 g all-purpose flour
- 150 ml cream, min. 31%
- a pinch of white pepper
- a pinch of ground nutmeg
- 6 chives stalks
INSTRUCTIONS
- 1Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower and break its head into small florets. Cut the main stem and smaller stems into 1 cm pieces. Thoroughly wash the prepared vegetables in cold water. Finely chop the onion.
- 2Bring 1.1 l of water to a boil in a pot and season with a level teaspoon of salt. Add the chopped cauliflower to the boiling water and cook until almost tender (al dente). Then, transfer it to a bowl using a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the water in which the cauliflower was cooked through a fine sieve into a clean container.
- 3In a saucepan, melt 60 g of butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until translucent. Reduce the heat to one-third, add the flour, and stir for 3 minutes. Pour in the water in which the cauliflower was cooked, increase the heat, and thoroughly whisk the soup until all the roux has dissolved.
- 4Set aside one-third of the cooked cauliflower florets and add the rest to the soup. Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to one-third and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes over low heat. Add the cream, a pinch of white pepper, and nutmeg. Stir and thoroughly blend with an immersion blender. Strain the finished soup through a coarse sieve into a clean pot, add the reserved one-third of cauliflower, and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining cold butter cut into smaller pieces. Season the soup with salt if needed and stir.
- 5Finely chop a few chives and add them to the finished soup.
Tip
The cauliflower florets (the one-third you'll use as an addition to the soup) should be cooked al dente in water. They must not be overcooked, or they would taste like mush in the soup.
Be careful not to brown the flour when sautéing – cauliflower soup must remain white.
Nutmeg provides a more pronounced flavor than mace, but be careful, just a small pinch at the end is enough.
Cold butter gradually stirred into the finished soup serves to refine its texture. When adding cold butter at the end of cooking, you must no longer boil the soup.
Roman Vaněk
Tip: For an especially delicate flavor, you can finish the sauce with a drop of lemon juice. Homemade spaetzle or wide noodles, which perfectly soak up the creamy sauce, are an excellent side dish.