So I Had this Cauliflower...

And some potatoes...what to do, what to do? I made soup! I took an old favorite Ayurvedic recipe and improvised. It was superb. Easy, balancing and a taste treat. As always, I am assuming your ingredients are the purest you can find--grown yourself, CSA, farmer's market, or organic.

Here's the recipe:

2-3 T ghee, pastured butter, coconut ghee or a combination (you can switch out bacon fat or lard or tallow, but the butter is what gives a rich, intense flavor to this soup--and bacon fat or tallow will change it to their characteristic taste)

2 medium onions, or equivalent, peeled and chopped

1 medium cauliflower, rinsed, leaves removed, stem trimmed, and coarsely chopped

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (red potatoes work too, just be sure you are not using "bakers', too much starch) Scrubbed, chopped into one inch or so cubes. (You may choose to peel the potatoes if you wish; I prefer to keep the skins on...for all those nutrients between the skin and the potato!;))

pure water to cover

Celtic salt ( a 3 finger pinch and fresh ground pepper (3 or 4 turns of your pepper mill)

thyme, dried, about 1 tsp or fresh, 1 T

fresh chopped garlic, about a Tablespoon or so, if desired

hot sauce (for a little fire in the winter time; very good for the lungs, digestion and immune system)

wheat-free tamari or soy sauce, optional, if desired

First, melt the butter/ghee in a soup pot. Then cook the onions in the butter/ghee over low heat until they are golden and translucent. I like to cover the pot and check to be sure they are not burning-typical time: 5-8 minutes, depending on your stove.

Next, add the cauliflower and potatoes and stir to coat. Add the thyme and salt and pepper. Add pure water to cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to simmer, and cook about 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower and potatoes are done.  Throw in the chopped garlic and stir.

Place in a blender or use an immersion blender to puree. This will be a silky smooth soup...or you can leave some chunks if you prefer.

To serve, add a dash of hot sauce and additional salt and pepper to each bowl. I also like to add a splash of wheat-free tamari for some depth and richness of flavor sometimes. :)

Note: you may of course use stock instead of water for this recipe and kick up the nutrient density--which is what I usually do. Chicken stock works best, as it is less strong in flavor than beef, etc. The Ayurvedic version uses water, and truth be told, (can you believe it?) I was out of stock, so I only had water to use. Mix it up--different herbs, stock/no stock, tamari/no tamari...but I always use the hot sauce in the winter!

And sorry, no photo! I ate it too fast to get a pic!