It was a toss-up.  I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make soup with the huge butternut squash that I got in last week's food box OR use the lovely cauliflower that came as well.  The cauliflower won.
I like cauliflower.  There is something homely and comforting about it.  It's very good for you but it's so unassuming.  Not like broccoli.  Broccoli is big and loud and green.   If I wanted to go in a slightly different direction with this I would have used bacon in it.  Honestly though, it kinda tasted like it had bacon in it anyway and I wanted to keep it vegetarian.  I'm feeling super simple these days.


I think, for Canadians at least, that by the time we get through January and into February we're just in survival mode.  I'm so not concerned with fashion right now.  I'm sick and tired of my winter clothes.  I'm ready to shed these ever present layers and get on with the regular movement of life.  Reality is though that in February we are still hibernating under layers of cloth, running from warm place to warm place and keeping the distance in between as short as possible.  Who's got the energy or wherewithal to get creative with din-din at the moment?  Having said that, I'm not done with this recipe yet.  In fact, I wasn't going to post it but just got kinda distracted into doing it anyway... if that makes any sense.  I want to fool around with the flava flav's here.  I'm not even sure what direction to take it in yet but when I do you'll be the first to know.

In my opinion, there are very few soups out there that look spectacular and this sure ain't one of 'em.  I thought that some of my other soups looking boring but this one just looks like bad porridge crap mush.  Not a shred of colour in this boring boy... but I didn't care.  It tasted good, really good.  And, as I curled up to watch the Sunday afternoon Bollywood offering on the tube, it was a perfect 'curl-up-and-eat-while-you-watch-a-movie-without-feeling-guilty' snack.In the meantime... if you have ingredients that read remotely like the ones listed below and are craving a warm, soothing bowl of boring looking simplicity, then this is the crap for you.


Stupid Easy Cauliflower, White Bean Soup
serves 4

1 small head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 small onion, sliced
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
2 med potato, cut into small chunks
1 can white cannelini beans
2 - 3 tbsp butter or oil
4 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
salt


In a large soup pot, saute the butter, onion and celery for about 10 - 12 min. over low heat until the onion begins to carmelize and turn brown.
Add in the cauliflower and potato.  Mix and cook for another 10 min.
Add in the beans and stock.
Simmer together for about 10 minutes.


Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend until the soup is creamy.


Add salt (and pepper or pepper sauce ;-) to taste.
Serve.