Cauliflower and Cheese Soup for a cold winter's night

It all began yesterday with a cauliflower in my fridge begging to be turned into something delicious and exciting...the idea of steaming it and making cheese sauce to pour on top was already making me yawn, so I reached for the recipes and started looking for some inspiration.

The recipe that I chose was Epicure's Zippy Cauliflower and Cheese Soup.  


Notes:  It seemed simple enough - I basically simmered a cauliflower, an onion, chicken bouillon, garlic and Epicure's Spanish Seasoning.  The seasoning really made a difference, it gave it a gorgeous "saffron" color and took the taste beyond ordinary cauliflower soup.  After the simmering you remove the vegetables and mash them - I liked that they were not pureed beyond recognition like many recipes call for.  You add cheddar cheese (I used medium as that is all I had), cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2), a little butter and flour, as well as Epicure's Cheese and Jalapeno Dip Mix.  The recipe called for 2 tablespoons but I was worried it would be too spicy for my kids to eat so I reduced this to 1 tablespoon.  I think this was a good call because the soup had just the right amount of "zip" for our family.  If you enjoy spicy I would go for both tablespoons.

Verdict:  We enjoyed this soup, and it made enough that you could have it as a meal with some nice bread and a salad.  I loved the texture and the flavors - not your typical creamy cauliflower soup.  This was not an overly cheesy cauliflower soup either -you could definitely taste the cheese, but it was subtle.  Using the sharp cheddar as the recipe called for, would probably have made it more so.  


Here is a link to the recipe I used:
http://www.epicureselections.com/en/recipe/715/zippy-cauliflower-and-cheese-soup

Cheers!

P.S.  Cauliflowers are in season now and not expensive at the grocery store, making this the best time of year to make soup out of them!