Cheesy Cauliflower Soup with Ham

It's embarrassing to see how long it has been since I posted here. The reality is that I've been finally been broken by my family. :-) I've been giving in to their desires for burgers and take-out pizza and and the other boring-but-easy foods that they prefer. However, it is really hard for me to resist a beautiful head of cauliflower, so last night I made a rich and delicious cauliflower soup. Here's what I did:

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup with Ham

1 large head cauliflower

3 Tbsp. butter

1 small onion

1 leek (white and light green parts)

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1/2 bottle beer (about 1 cup)

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp thyme

1 cup diced ham

4 oz sharp cheddar

4 oz cream cheese

1 to 2 Tbsp. finely minced parsley

salt and pepper

Cut cauliflower into small florets. Finely dice or chop the other vegetables. Melt butter in large soup pot. Saute the onion, leek, carrot, and celery until tender, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add cauliflower and stir to coat with butter. When the cauliflower is hot and just beginning to soften, add the beer, chicken broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until the cauliflower is very tender. Roughly puree the soup with an immersion blender. Add ham and continue to simmer while you shred the cheddar cheese. Stir in the cheeses until they are melted. Stir in the parsley. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Eat.

I might have used dill, which I love, instead of parsley, but my daughter doesn't like it. A little mustard might be good in it.

Make your own soup. Have fun with it. Although I have written this down as a recipe, I didn't follow any recipe. It's more fun to just concoct your own soup based on what you have in the house. If you are new to soup making, read a few recipes so you get an idea of the appropriate proportions, then experiment a little. 

Perfect roast beef

When I was young, I used to save the recipe pages from the New York Times Magazine. I was hopeful and naive back then. I even bought some pomegranate molasses (it's still in my pantry, 15 years later).

The fact is, the New York Times Magazine recipe page usually has only a limp, dampish grip on reality. However, I have to report that not only was it useful for the first time ever, but it was transformative. I don't think I will ever make roast beef any other way again.

Roast beef (adapted from The New York Times)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Mix 1 Tbsp. kosher salt, 1 Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper, about 1 Tbsp. minced garlic (2-3 cloves), 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and about 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper.

Rub the mixture all over a 3 lb. beef roast (a cheap cut like bottom round, eye of round, etc.). Place it in a cast iron skillet, fat side up.

Roast for 5 minutes per pound. (I suggest you add a few minutes if the beef is straight from the refrigerator; I cooked a cold 3.2 lb roast for 20 minutes and it was perfect.)

The important part:

Turn off the oven.

DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN!

Leave the roast in the oven for 2 hours.

It will be perfectly rare all the way through, which is important for round roasts. They become tough if cooked to medium.

The Times suggested serving the roast with "Henry Bain sauce," a gussied-up steak sauce from Louisville. I made it because I had exactly 1/3 cup of chutney in my fridge. It was pretty good and should keep a while.

Henry Bain Sauce (adapted from the New York Times)

1/3 cup mango or peach chutney

4 Tbsp. A-1 steak sauce

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4 Tbsp chili sauce

2 Tbsp ketchup

Few drops Tabasco

Mix everything together in a small pot and cook on medium heat until it thickens slightly. Cool and refrigerate.

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Pea Soup Anderson

I have no idea who "Pea Soup Anderson" was, but I am told that a neighbor called me this when I was about 3 years old because I liked split pea soup.

Well, I still like a good split pea soup, and here's the one I made last night, using the last bits of our New Year's ham. It was pretty darn good and I'm sure Anderson would approve.

Split Pea Soup

1. Rinse and pick over a bag of split peas (1 lb, I think, but I didn't check). Put them in a large pot with a leftover ham bone. Cover the peas and most of the bone with about 2 quarts water and a (14 oz) can of chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
2. While the pot is heating, dice 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 parsnip (or 1/2 of one if large), and 1 stalk celery, and mince a large garlic clove.
3. When the pot is boiling, skim off as much as possible of the scum that rises to the top, then add the vegetables and a bay leaf. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about an hour.
4. Dice a large russet potato and whatever leftover ham you have (I had about 2 cups of diced ham) and add them to the pot, along with salt and pepper to taste (go light on the salt, because you are adding ham). If your ham bone was very meaty, remove it, cool it, dice the meat, and return both meat and bone to the pot. Cook at a simmer at least another half hour, uncovered. Remove bone and bay leaf and serve (or save for tomorrow; this is the kind of soup that tastes even better the next day).