A 5:2 Diet Staple and Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe:
Some time ago I tried making cauliflower cream. The idea is to create something that has all the consistency of cream but none of the fat content or calories. Or at least, FAR fewer calories.
Blitzing an entire cauliflower actually makes rather too much for one person, but cauliflower cream freezes well and will keep in the fridge for about a week. You can use it as a pasta sauce with a good helping of parmesan and some bacon, chicken or mushrooms if you like.
And, as a base for a cream soup it is light and yet creamy. Really quite luscious and almost impossible to ‘split’
I bought my cauliflower and was planning to make cauliflower cheese. But, Christmas intervened and I was left needing a quick use for a whole cauliflower. Cauliflower cream gave me four portions – two to freeze, one to enjoy with pasta and mushrooms and one to experiment with.
Here’s the Cauliflower Cream recipe
- 1 Medium Head of Cauliflower
- 100 ml Milk
- 50 g Butter
- 1 Small Shallot Finely chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic Finely chopped
- Melt the butter in a small frying pan
- Gently sweat the onions and garlic in the butter
- Break the cauliflower into florets and put into a high speed mixer like a froothie with the milk
- Blitz on a medium speed for 5 minutes or so
- Add the onions, garlic and melted butter and continue to blitz till perfectly smooth. Add more milk if necessary till you have something the consistency of double cream.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and continue to blitz till piping hot.
The pasta dish was nice but not quite perfect yet. But the truffled cream of mushroom and cauliflower soup was really wonderful. So for now, here’s how to use a quarter of your cauliflower cream to make a delicious soup that is NEARLY suitable for the 5:2 diet.
- 100 ml Cauliflower Cream
- 100 ml Semi Skimmed Milk
- 50 ml Stock or water
- 150 g Chestnut mushrooms Chopped or sliced finely
- 10 g Butter
- 1 splash Truffle oil
- 1 splash Double Cream
- Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and gently fry the mushrooms over a low heat for 10 minutes
- Add the stock, milk and cauliflower cream and warm through
- Taste and adjust seasoning
- Serve with a splash of truffle oil and double cream.
Actually, it was only the addition of a generous glug of double cream which moved this particular soup out of the realms of ‘diet’ and into ‘I’m still on holiday’ mode.
Sounds delicious! I love mushroom soup and I love cauliflowers but have never tried them together in a soup!