I’m not serious on here very often but I’d really like to take a moment to pray for Texas and Louisiana during these rough times with Hurricane Harvey. I’ve lived though several hurricanes growing up in Louisiana and Florida so I know first hand how horrible hurricane damage and flooding are. Not to mention, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew currently live in Houston and my mom, step dad, and brother all live in southwest Louisiana. Basically, Hurricane Harvey is definitely hitting close to home. Thankfully, my family is totally okay but so many others cannot say that. Thank you to everyone who has donated or helped out in any way. If you haven’t donated and would like to, here is a link to the American Red Cross donation site. You can also donate to any of these local Houston charities. Lastly, this link also shares many other ways to help during these tough times. Love you all!
Okay, back to normal Adrienne ridiculous…
Guys… we SURVIVED our marathon long wedding weekend. Whew. It was an exhausting but extremely fun four days! I even have three photos to show for it (one, two, three). Tom and I clean up pretty nicely, if I do say so myself. Though, we were pretty useless on Sunday… hence this post going up on Tuesday evening rather than Monday morning 🙂 BUT I did get a new recipe post up Friday while driving from Mackinac Island down to Rochester… so if you didn’t catch my spaghetti squash taco bowls from Friday, you should totally go read that post after you finish this one.
Back to this post/recipe, I’m here with a FABULOUS new soup recipe, which is totally ready for fall or the end of summer since it’s still technically summer (boooo). This cauliflower hazelnut soup is hearty, creamy, nutty, smooth and all together delicious!
Story time: We had dinner at this awesome seafood restaurant when in Doolin, Ireland back in July and the chef gave us some complementary cauliflower hazelnut soup… and guess what? It was magical!!!!! And by magical, I’m mean ridiculously delicious. I knew right then and there that I needed to recreate it. Naturally, I did just that and of course added a few things like BACON and FRIED SAGE LEAVES.
SO we have sautéed cauliflower and roasted hazelnuts (my new FAVE snack fyi…) plus garlic (always), leeks (a representative in the onion family was needed), veggie broth (#dairy-free yayyy), and lemon juice (gotta have that acid) pureed into a perfect soup! Then we top it with (like I said before) BACON and FRIED SAGE LEAVES plus extra sautéed cauliflower and roasted hazelnuts to look pretty. If you want to make this vegan/vegetarian feel free to leave out the bacon. This cauliflower hazelnut soup is still the BOMB without it. Oh and did I also mention that this recipe only requites 12 ingredients?! Three of which are olive oil, sea salt, and pepper and those don’t realllllly count so it’s much pretty like nine ingredients, which is super awesome for a flavor bursting soup recipe! I know, it’s awesome right?!
Recipe time.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup roasted hazelnuts (no skin – I bought these)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 medium leek, thinly sliced
- 2.5 lb cauliflower head; stem and leaves removed then broken into florets (great tutorial here)
- healthy pinch sea salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 6 slices think bacon, chopped
- 8-10 sage leaves + 3 tablespoons olive oil for frying + sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet (with sides) then drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and roast for 10 minutes. Make sure to watch them so they don’t burn. If you ended up using raw hazelnuts with skins instead, roast for 20-30 minutes then roll the nuts together between your hands to remove skins. Set roasted hazelnuts aside.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and leeks then sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until leeks are soft. Add cauliflower florets to the skillet then season with a healthy pinch sea salt and pepper and the paprika. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown, stirring occasionally. At this point, you’ll want to remove a few pieces of browned cauliflower for garnish (if that’s your thing). Next, add the veggie broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat until broth comes to a simmer then cover loosely (with a slight crack to allow venting) and cook for 20 minutes. Remove lid completely then cook for an additional 10 minutes. While you’re waiting for this mixture to cook, fry your bacon and sage!
- Cook the bacon: Add bacon chunks to a medium skillet over medium heat then cook until crispy (10-12 minutes), stirring often. Remove from skillet using a slotted spoon then transfer to a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess grease.
- Fry your sage: Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot (oil will ripple), add your sage leaves and fry them for 10-15 seconds each (don’t let them brown!!). Transfer fried leaves to a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess grease. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Using a ladle (or pouring VERY carefully), transfer the cauliflower mixture to a high-speed blender then puree together with the roasted hazelnuts (leaving a few out for garnish) and lemon juice. Depending on how large your blender is, you may need to do this in two batches. Taste and season with more sea salt and/or pepper if needed.
- Assemble: Divide soup into bowls then garnish with extra sautéed cauliflower, roasted hazelnuts, crispy bacon chunks, and/or fried sage leaves then ENJOY.
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment or tag a photo #appetitesanonymous on instagram!! I’d love to see your cauliflower hazelnut soups in action. Peace, friends!
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