nutty-licious cauliflower soup

Out of those recipe videos that show up on your Facebook feed, how many do you actually end up making? The recipes I usually see are either way too greasy, uninteresting, or plain just too much - three types of cheese and one cup of each... nope! But then this video sneaked in and I decided to make my own take on this soup. My taste buds were in heaven :)

CAULIFLOWER SOUL SOUP

Adapted from Epicurious' post 

INGREDIENTS

for approx. 6 portions

for the soup:

1 medium cauliflower

a handful of chopped almonds

1.5 l vegetable stock

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp lovage leaves

the juice and zest of half a bio lemon

2 tbsp sweet paprika
salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

for the topping:

a handful of chopped nuts and seeds

(I used almonds, hazelnuts, flax seeds) 

a few of the cauliflower roses (finely chopped)

olive oil for toasting the nuts

drops of pumpkin seeds oil for decoration

• Toss the spices (thyme, nutmeg, bay leaves, lovage) in olive oil on the bottom of a boiling pot and let them sizzle for a few minutes on low to medium heat. 
• In the meantime cut the cauliflower into 'roses' and set 4 of them aside for the topping, chop them finely; crush the almonds into chunks. Throw the cauliflower and the almonds in the pot and sprinkle the sweet paprika, together with the lemon juice and zest. Stir well and in the next 10 min. occasionally stir the cauliflower, allowing all the spices to cover it evenly and for it to soften just a bit.
• Pour the vegetables stock and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes and take off the heat.
• In a pan toss the olive oil, seeds, nuts, and the rest of the cauliflower. The seeds will start to pop, so you have to stir and keep an eye out on the pan. When the house has this magical smell of toasted nuts, take off the heat.
• Make the soup into a cream soup. I used a hand-held blender, but you can use whatever you feel like. Divide into portions and decorate with the topping and pumpkin seeds oil.

Enjoy it warm! Simply yum!