Cauliflower and thyme cream soup with bacon and parmesan recipe

There is something wonderful about cream soups. First, you can never cease to reinvent them and second (and probably most important) they have a comforting healing effect that makes them so good when you need to forget about bad times, cold weather or lost hopes.

I just like the feeling of primary nutrition and childhood memories that they bring, that you can feel a bit pampered like a child, even if you are a serious grown up with serious issues going on. Really now, it is just a good break.

This cream soup of today is not only pampering, but also full of vitamins and very good for the heart. It is because of its two main ingredients: cauliflower and fresh thyme.

So I will step right into it or else I will post it again at midnight when you can only dream about food. But it is timeless so you can try it tomorrow… or the day after…or the day after.

What do you need

2 big cauliflower heads

One white onion

One bunch of fresh thyme

2-3 Bay leaves

3 chicken cubes (for 800 ml of chicken stock)

200 ml of cooking liquid cream

100g of bacon

Parmesan for shaving on

Salt and pepper

Olive oil 

How to prepare it 

Heat the olive oil and brown the bacon until it turns crispy. Be careful not to burn the oil, otherwise the flavor will be spoiled. If this happens, remove the bacon from the pan when it is done, clean  the pan and heat a new oil in which you can fry the bacon just for a moment to leave out some taste.

Clean the onion and chop it coarsely in small cubes. The beauty of blending everything in the end is that you don’t have to worry about beauty contests in cutting and chopping.

Sautee the onion in the remaining olive oil(you can add a bit extra if you need, but not too much) until it turns translucid. Make sure to use a bigger pan that can “host” all your soup in the end.

Have the cauliflower nicely washed and cut in tiny bunches so it can soften easier through sautéing and boiling.

  

 

Add the cauliflower, fresh thyme and bay leaves to the onion and continue to fry until the

cauliflower starts to soften. Now you can add the chicken stock that you have previously prepared from about 800 ml of hot water and the chicken cubes. Boil on high heat until the cauliflower is nicely soft and you can pierce it easy with the fork.

 Now, remove the thyme sticks (all the leaves are already out in the mixture) and the bay leaves. Use a hand blender to turn everything in a light cream.

Return back to the fire, add the liquid cream and mix for few moments. Don’t allow it to boil.

Serve in bowls, topped with the bacon and parmesan shaves. If you like, you can add some parmesan shaves in the pan, before removing from the fire. This way, the soup will get an even richer consistency.

Enjoy and be spoiled!