At Christmas, we used to always make this. If wanted, this might be divided into 20 popcorn balls.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 baking potato, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 ounces Stilton cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Separate 3/4 cup of cauliflower florets and place them in a pan of boiling water. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes, then rinse under cold water and set aside for garnish.
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, leek, onion, and garlic; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, remaining cauliflower, potato, and sherry. Bring to a boil; simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and cauliflower are tender. Remove from heat.
- Purée cauliflower mixture in batches using a food processor or blender; transfer to a soup pot over medium-low heat. Season with white pepper, black pepper, and salt. Stir in milk and cream, then crumble in Stilton cheese. Heat through, but do not boil.
- Ladle into bowls, and garnish with reserved cauliflower pieces and chopped fresh parsley.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 238 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 41 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 1031 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I chose this recipe because I wanted to finish using up the cream and sherry I bought for our Christmas dinner of shrimp Newberg. (We used to keep our sherry in the pantry for years, but learned this year it should be refrigerated after opening and used within a couple of weeks). I used gorgonzola instead of Stilton because the only Stilton I found in my large grocery store had cranberries in it. They were out of parsley when I shopped, and there’s not enough in my garden now, so I omitted it. It turned out thicker than soup. It could be a side dish served on the same plate as the main dish. Maybe a “baking potato” is smaller than the usual potatoes we call “Idahos” and bake one per person as a side dish. Mom and I will enjoy eating what I made according to the recipe instructions (perhaps 6 large bowls or 10 small servings), but I will not make it again because it took me so long to make. (I’m a slow chopper). There are other things that are tastier that I can make much more quickly.
Good winter soup
I also forgot to mention, I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and added a few more cloves of garlic. This was my first attempt at a soup and found it very easy to make.
I used the Danish blue cheese. Don’t use any more than the recipe states because it can over power. I did make one addition. I added a little maple smoked bacon to the recipe. The family loved it!
I think it really depends how salty the bleu cheese is, because mine was too sharp to add the salt. (the stilton wasn’t available were I live, so I used a creamy danish type) I recommend waiting to spice as indicated in the directions. I had to keep adding milk and cream to mellow the flavor as I did not have more cauliflower. I also used white wine because I didn’t have Sherry. One thing I definitely would do again in this recipe is to add potato flakes to the puree. I didn’t have a fresh potato, and it worked rather well-without the extra work. I found this recipe to be fun. Don’t bother chopping everything fine because you’re going to blend it all up! I liked it.
We love cauliflower so we were really looking forward to trying this recipe. However, that amount of celery overwhelmed the cauliflower flavor, and the final product was way too spicy hot. I would recommend less celery, and way less pepper!
This is good, but in small batches. The stilton is strong and a little goes a long way. I think it would be great as a side dish, but not as a main soup.
I wanted to give my version of this 3 1/2 stars but didn’t have option. My husband says give it an 80/100 🙂 I used extra fingerling potatos, no leek, milk instead of cream, and danish bleu cheese. I also served with crusty bread. It was good but I thought leftovers became a bit tough to eat. Its a potent taste (probably the less smooth bleu cheese) and great in small batches.
I wanted to give my version of this 3 1/2 stars but didn’t have option. My husband says give it an 80/100 🙂 I used extra fingerling potatos, no leek, milk instead of cream, and danish bleu cheese. I also served with crusty bread. It was good but I thought leftovers became a bit tough to eat. Its a potent taste (probably the less smooth bleu cheese) and great in small batches.
Just made this recipe and it is truly wonderful. Only change was to exchange potato for carrot as that is what I had on hand. Next time will use potato. I will make this many times I am sure! Today is hot and sunny and it is still great! Thanks Sean for sharing.
Such a great, luxurious soup. I used butter instead of vegetable oil and cooked everything up together then pureed 2/3 of the soup and hand mashed the rest using a potato masher and finally jused used half and half instead of the heavy cream and milk. So deliciouse however if you are not a “stinky cheese” person you probably won’t love it but if you’re like me and think stinky cheese is the bomb then I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love this.
I loved this. The only change that I made was using Camenbert instead of Stilton which is not readily available here.
This has become my new comfort food. I had never tried Stilton cheese previously, and it absolutely makes the recipe. I wouldn’t suggest using blue cheese as a substitute, it doesn’t work as well. This is definitely a keeper, especially in the coming winter months.
This soup was great! I used Danish Blue Cheese instead of Stilton, and it definitly had a more powerful flavour. However I found with the leftovers the next day, the blue cheese taste was much stronger so I would probably use a milder blue cheese next time. The flavour seemed to heighten!
This was very good. I made several ,only because I did’nt have the items on hand.Used shallots,omitted the leeks.Used 1 cup of half and half.Also used four slices of smoked Fontina cheese,which really added to the flavor. I also just mashed the cauliflower and potato right in the pot,so much easier,I like my soup with a little texture.
I made the soup strictly by the recipe. After all ingredients were cooking, I decided that I wanted the soup a little creamier. I added another 1/2 c. of heavy cream. This is a really great recipe, for soup lovers. thanks, Ken Ken
Didn’t use cauliflower for garnish. so that cut out step 1. Used 1 big onion because I didn’t have a leek.Used 1 cup instant rice and 1 cup of water for the potato. Added 2 carrots cut in 1″ or so chunks. Did not use any oil, just put cauliflower through broth and carrots, peppers and salt in a soup pot. Cooked til cauliflower was tender. Removed most of it to food processor and pureed. Returned to pot and added sherry, cream and 4oz of blue cheese instead of the Stilton. Very tasty!
Very good- left out the potato, and added more cream….not sure if I’ll make it again, but it was a nice change for us.
My prep time was a little bit longer than 15 min. Also, I must of had a very large head of cauliflower because I needed more broth (used vegetable broth). I don’t care for sherry, used a good dry red wine instead. Very happy with this soup, using a hand blender makes it even easier!
I think this is the best recipe i’ve found for cauliflower and blue cheese. I used approx. 1kg cauliflower head (before the leaves and stalk were removed) and as stilton was sold out in my supermarket this evening, i used 150g castello blue, which isn’t as crumbly – but has the same mild creamy taste as blue stilton. (I’m going to experiment with Danish blue next time) 😉 I also used a little less pepper (I crushed 1 tsp of white and 1 tsp of black pepper corns, and used about 3/4 of the total). The sherry addition really adds to the taste. 🙂 Will definitely be reusing this one. 🙂 update: okay, i’ve since tried this with stilton which i find just isn’t strong tasting enough, and also with danish blue – which turned out to be the exact flavour i was looking for. 🙂 so if you’re a blue cheese lover, danish blue’s your man! 🙂
I so looked forward to making this but was very disappointed. Nice base for a cauliflower soup and had a nice peppery kick but although I tripled a good English Stilton I had purchased, the recipe was bland. I will use the base again but maybe cut back on the vegetables to let the cheese flavor come through.