I confess I never cared much for cauliflower. Except steamed or in salads I hardly found great recipes worth the effort so it was usually not part of my shopping list. However, this past Easter I went to Michoacan and while visiting the market of San Juan in Morelia I found, among other things, this beauty and couldn’t resist!
I felt compelled to find a great recipe to do it justice which brings me to this amazing soup. Even if you are like me and never appreciated cauliflower much or if you have children that would never eat it, believe me you are going to be surprised how popular it will be. My three year old is a big fan now and keeps asking me to do it again! It is definitely on my top soups list now.
If you can’t find cheese Cotija, I would use real, fresh italian parmesan cheese. This recipe is adapted from the great Mexican chef, Monica Patino.
Cauliflower soup with cheese Cotija
Serves 4
- 500 g/17.6 oz cauliflower
- 2 l/8.4 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 50 g butter
- 4 tbsp grated Cotija cheese
- 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Wash and separate the cauliflower florets. Put them to boil with the chicken stock for about 8 to 12 minutes. Once cooked, blend them in the mixer with the chicken stock and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the chopped onion and the garlic cloves until they look transparent. Then add the cauliflower mixture and let it cook for 5 minutes more.
- Put everything in the mixer and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot, sprinkled with the grated cheese, a thread of olive oil and freshly ground pepper to taste. You can also serve it with one or two slices of toasted bread with a slice of gratinated Cotija cheese.
