Cauliflower and Tomato Soup

You know I love soup, and I love cauliflower, so for me this is a match made in heaven. This delicious vegetarian soup is substantial enough to please most meat eaters; however, you can also add some diced smoked sausage (like kielbasa) or shellfish (shrimp or scallops would be nice). And – we enjoy a visit from my biggest soup fan, my wonderful late mother, Nonna Erminia. Buon Gusto! #LidiasRecipes #LidiasItaly #LidiasKitchen #LidiaBastianich #ItalianFood #LidiasTheArtofPasta #LidiasOliveOil

CAULIFLOWER AND TOMATO SOUP

Be sure to hit the Subscribe button so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
Follow Lidia!
Official website: https://lidiasitaly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LidiaBastianich
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LidiaBastianich
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lidiabastianich

Cauliflower soup. All vegetable soup. Delicious. And you know this base can be for any vegetables. I am making cauliflower today, but you can use broccoli or cabbage, any any soup. The base is let’s start with the onion. And of course, you want a nice sturdy pot, a tall pot. If you make a soup, you know, make make an abundant amount. I have it all the time in the refrigerator. And you know, grandma grandma’s reaching on in age. And so I make soups and uh I make these these actually she takes the pint. She doesn’t want the quart. She wants the pint. She says the pint is enough for me. And I freeze it for her. All different uh uh soups. And if I’m traveling, she has her soup ready for lunch. Little bit of salt, a little bit of pepperonino. And you want the onions just to wilt the carrots. A nice kind of a chunky carrot because I like it to cook and it sort of breaks down a little bit, but I like to have the pieces of the carrots and the celery in the soup. So, let’s put the carrots and the celery. [Music] And then a little tomato paste. The tomato paste will give it flavor, will give it color, that intense tomato flavor in a tomato paste. Instead of adding plum tomatoes or whatever, I like to make a hot spot. Just like that. Put all the other vegetables away and let this caramelize a little bit. And you can smell the extra layer of flavor that the tomato paste gets just by caramelizing it like this. Then mix everything together. And this is a good simple base for the soup. And in this case, we will make cauliflower. But you can make, as I said, all the other vegetables. Let’s fill it up with water. Now, if you want to expedite things, you can have a pot of hot water boiling right next to it and you pour it right in and then continues. Otherwise, you just go to the sink and you fill it up with regular tap water. Okay. Chop some time. You pull it off the stems and then you just chop it even a little bit more. [Music] few bay leaves. Two, three bay leaves. I like fresh bay leaves. If you have don’t have fresh, dry is fine. Just make sure you pluck them out before you serve, especially the dry because they crack and they can really lodge in your throat. Uh, a little bit of salt to salt the water. And we’ll bring this to a boil. While that’s cooking, let’s clean the cauliflower. Nice cauliflower head. Clean the stem. I’m looking at these leaves. And you know, I I love to use every part of the vegetable. So, yeah. Let’s use some of the leaves. I will chop this too. Just like that. And these are ideal pieces. Let’s see. When they cook and they boil, they’ll the cauliflower will break into smaller pieces. Anyway, and you know, there’s different colors of cauliflower. They have the the the purple one, the yellow one. Uh, and they’re all equally as good for this soup. Okay. So, we’ll bring the base, the soup base to a boil. We’ll let it cook for about half an hour. Then we’ll add the cauliflower, finish seasoning, cook it for another half an hour, 40 minutes, depends how the cauliflower breaks down, and then we’ll add the rice, and we’ll enjoy the soup. My greatest tools in the kitchen, of course, are my knife, my wooden spoon. But beyond that, my hands, my eyes, the sense of smell, the sense of taste. Italian cooking at its base is using the best ingredients you can find in the season. using as few ingredients that you would need for a delicious dish and elaborating as little as possible. So in a word, it’s a minimalistic cuisine that it’s really major flavor statement. Well, the soup has been cooking about an hour, so we’ll throw in the rice. And the rice will take about 8 minutes to cook. Let’s give it a good mix. Just like that. Let that bubble away. And it’s a special day today. Let me introduce you to my guest. Hi, Grandma. Hi. How you doing? Okay. We don’t want to get any color. That’s it. So, Grandma, the soup, a little soup. Are you in the mood for soup? Ready. You’re ready. Can you help me a little bit? Grating the cheese. You do that so well. Why not? I did so many times. I do one time more. Okay, let’s check let’s check the soup here. Grandma, cauliflower soup. You like I know you like soups. Surely any vegetable I like. And it’s good for my digestion, too. Yeah. Okay. Let me see. Let me see. Let me get I want to gr some cheese. What do you think? That is enough for Yeah, I think that’s enough for the two of us. Okay. Can put it right there on the side. Yes. Okay. And let’s see. How about a little bit of veno? Yeah. You like the idea? Sure. Why not? Okay. Let’s see. Maybe I’ll put yours here and I’ll put mine here. And if I drink all I will get a little bit drunk, too. A grandant at least. No. A little bit at the time. Grandma, you can handle that. Okay. I That’s nothing new for you. No. A little parsley. Just like that. I like giving the color of the soup. Nice, huh? Nice. Good thing that at my age I have somebody who take care of me. Well, you took care of me. You took care of my children. You took care of my grandchildren, your great-grandchildren. So, you take Now I take back. Now it’s your time for us to take care of you. And I think I think that’s very important. Andy in look what a beautiful color green and some kind of oranges. Nice. Yes. Do you know I like cheese too? I know you like cheese. I know you like cheese. That’s why I had you grate some cheese. Okay. So, can you put some for me too? Why not? That’s good. You like like me more. You like your bread. I know that. Yeah. Not the end because my teeth are not the best. No. I know all your secrets, grandma, by now. It’s not secrets. How about a nice piece of bread? Sort of taste and let me nice. Let me know what you think about my soup. [Music] M. Very good taste. You like it? The cauliflower kind of breaks down, becomes a little bit spicy, a little bit on the sweet side. And the smell of the cauliflower is nice. Very good. Very good. It’s delicious. Before we continue, do you want to invite them or should I invite them or should we together? Okay. [Music] Salute. Salute. [Music]