thursday recipe: cauliflower and mushroom soup (dairy free)

As regular readers know, my family and I are travelling up the east coast of Australia heading to Cape York. We are currently in Byron Bay staying with our dear friend David, who much to Sol's amazement, is vegetarian. "Oh come on mum, Uncle Dave has to eat more than just vegetables?!!" was Sol's comment. I am enjoying the creative challenge of coming up with vegetarian dinner ideas that appeal to my carnivorous child.

Winter is here and soup is perfect for the cool nights. Soup can also be a great way to feed your (reluctant) family a wider variety of veggies. Cauliflower and mushrooms are definitely not on my boys list of favorites but when Pete spotted that beautiful cauliflower in Dave's shop we decided on cauliflower soup for dinner.

This recipe is very quick and simple. My 7 year old who is always willing to at the very least taste foods made his way through a decent serve of this, he didn't love it but he gave it a good go and that is all I ask. Sol fell asleep before dinner, he has been on a very early cycle for some months now and it is very challenging!

I hope your family enjoys this soup. I served toasted sesame spelt bread with raw garlic butter alongside. Raw garlic is good preventative medicine.

Cauliflower and mushroom soup

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into small pieces

4 shallots or 1 medium size brown onion, finely diced

8-10 field mushrooms, chopped into small pieces

1 cup filtered water with 4 teaspoons organic stock powder or, 1 cup homemade stock 

1 cup of chopped fresh parsley

toasted sesame seeds for garnish

1 tablespoon butter or ghee

To make

Melt butter or ghee over medium heat in heavy based pot. 

Gently cook shallots or onion until transparent.

Add cauliflower, mushrooms and stock or water.

Bring to boil then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables soft.

Puree to desired consistency.

Stir in parsley.

Serve and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.