Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Soup

There was a lot of cooking this weekend in my little kitchen. Which also meant doing the dishes multiple times. But, I'm happy to report, that all the cooking was definitely worth it!

Just wait till you see my Daring Bakers challenge (June 27th is the big reveal day)!!!

But now on to this Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Soup. I came up with this recipe because 1) red peppers were on sale for 50 cents each!!!! (unheard of!) and 2) I had a head of cauliflower left from testing one of Robyn Webb's recipes.

And although it's summer, I thought a pureed soup would do me some good. If you don't like cauliflower, feel free to substitute plain white potatoes or celery root or maybe even some butternut squash.

To add a bit extra flavor to the soup, I decided to add a whole head of roasted garlic. Be ready for your house to smell amazing while and after you prepare this recipe!


Ingredients
olive oil
4 red peppers, quartered, seeds removed and cut into big chunks
1 head of garlic, top cut off
salt & pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into florettes
1 cup milk
1/2-1 cup cooking liquid from cauliflower
parsley, minced for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Take a head of garlic, cut off the top and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and place on the cookie sheet.

3. Drizzle red peppers with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and scatter in one layer on the aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Alternatively, you can roast whole peppers on a gas flame. (Pictures below are of peppers before and after the roasting process).

4. Roast the peppers and the garlic for 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, cook cauliflower in salted water for about 20 minutes, or until cauliflower is completely tender. Drain the cauliflower, retaining about 1 cup of liquid.

6. In a food processor puree red peppers, cauliflower, 1 cup of milk and the squeezed out insides of the roasted garlic. If necessary, add 1/2 to 1 cup of retained cooking water (depending on how thick you want the soup to be). Season with salt and pepper.

7. Serve the soup in a bowl garnished with some chopped roasted red pepper and minced parsley. Note: this is a great soup to have for leftovers, as I found out. The recipe makes approximately 5 cups.