Offer this velvety soup at a dinner party with a pick-and-mix of made-ahead sprinkles
Ingredients
- 25g butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 leek, finely sliced
- 3 celery sticks, finely sliced
- 2 cauliflower, cut into florets
- 500ml milk
- 1l vegetable stock
- 150ml double cream
- grating of nutmeg
Sprinkles, to serve
- crisp bacon bits (optional)
- rough croûtons
- chopped hard-boiled eggs
- crumbled blue cheese
Method
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Heat the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, leek and celery. Cook very gently for 10 mins until soft but not coloured. Add the cauliflower, milk and stock. Bring to a simmer, then gently cook for 10-12 mins until the cauliflower is tender. Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Season with salt and nutmeg, then place in a blender and blitz until smooth. If you like, you can sieve the soup to make it even smoother – I think this makes a difference and doesn’t take much more effort, but it’s certainly not essential.
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To serve, bring the soup to the table in the pan with a ladle and little dishes of all the different things you want to serve as sprinkles. Let everyone help themselves. I like to take little servings of soup and scatter over something different each time for variety.