Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Ingredients

• 30g butter
• 1 onion
• 600g cauliflower (1 med head)
• 250g maris piper potatoes
• 3 bay leaves, dried
• 1 chicken or veg stock cube
• 1L water
• 100g smoked cheddar, grated
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1/5 tsp cayenne peper
• 6 tsp soured cream
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

1. Peel and dice the potato into 2cm chunks, peel and crush the garlic, peel and finely dice the onion, break the cauliflower into florets.
   
2. Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed pan on a low/medium heat (you'll need one with a lid). Add all the vegetables, the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper - saute with the lid on for 5-7 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
   
3. Make the stock cube up to 1 litre with boiling water and add to the pan. Allow to simmer for 10-12 minutes until the potatoes and cauliflower are just tender.
   
4. Take off the heat, remove the bay leaves, and blend with a stick blender. You'll need to do this for a good 5 minutes until smooth. Put back on a very low heat, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
   
5. Add the cheese a small handful at a time and stir through. Once the cheese has melted and combined.
   
6. Serve the soup with a tsp of sour cream and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.
   

 Sprinkle on some chilli flakes as a garnish if you want to give it a bit of a kick.

Substitute a vegetable stock cube, use non-dairy butter and cheese, and leave out the sour cream to make this recipe vegan.