Cauliflower soup

If there is one thing I can make pretty well, it's soup.  It is most definitely a soup.  No recipes, no frills, no bells, no whistles.  I can get it DONE.  One of my old co-workers was telling a dinner party soup gone wrong, and I kept thinking to myself, "HOW?!"

I picked up a gigantic head of yellow cauliflower two weeks ago (eep) and decided that it needed to be used immediately.  There is a 12 pound turkey defrosting in the fridge, and Adam and I have to eat almost everything in our freezer before Thanksgiving Part Two in December.  How the fuck else are we going to fit a 20+ pound turkey?  WHY DO WE ALREADY HAVE A TURKEY IN THERE?

Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving, but really? We are going to brine this one though - so that will be exciting.  AND!  I will be able to make stock in advance from this.

Anyway, back to soup.  I grabbed The Flavor Bible to see what flavor combinations worked and ended up roasting the cauliflower with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and olive oil for 20 minutes.  I sauteed half an onion, a handful of scallions and garlic chunks.  I added the cauliflower after the onions had softened and poured in vegetable stock.  I let it come to a boil, let it simmer for a while, and then pureed 3/4 of it in the glorious Cuisinart, after contemplating using the immersion blender.  Listen, I don't have a dishwasher, and these are a LOT of dishes for a Monday night soup.

I seasoned the soup with more salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and some squeezes of lemon.

DELISH.

Served with a side of panko baked chicken.  Baked, breaded chicken is never as good as fried chicken, regardless of how good it still tastes.

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This is what it looks like the day after.  I can't get the coloring right, but it's a buttery, golden yellow.