A 'souper' Sunday supper

One of the cheapest vegetables in season must surely be cauliflower. I wouldn't say it was up there as a favourite vegetable, having had it as a child served simply pressure cooked without any adornment or now and then with plastic cheese slices 'melted' over the top. Not the fondest of memories.

Making it into a soup turns an already economical vegetable into a miser's joy as with just one vegetable and a few also cheap ingredients, there's Sunday evening's tea sorted. The recipe is from the incomparable Stephanie Alexander and arguably her best cookbook The Cook's Companion. I don't go searching for diet food, but it so happens, this recipe has no added fat (unless you like a little cream for effect) and it is wonderful in spite of being fat free, shock of shocks! It's named Muff's Soup and I often like to make it using broccoflower and the finished soup is a pretty Celadon green rather than the buff you end up with using cauli.

The other 'star' in my soup tonight is good old Vegemite. I recon, if you are unfamiliar and rather wary of the black sludge we Aussies love to a fault, then using it as an ingredient might be a great way to ease your way into it's flavour. Then, if you really want to go the whole Vegemite Experience, you can add, as I did tonight, some Cheesy Vegemite Fingers.

Muff's Soup

1 litre chicken stock (and choose a lower salt version if you are using packaged)
1 cauliflower cut into florets and include the stalk
1 tsp Vegemite* or a tablespoon of Maggie Seasoning if you don't have access to Vegemite
1 TBSP chopped parsley (leave this out if serving the fingers)
Black Pepper
splash of cream (optional)

For the Cheesy Vegemite Fingers

1 piece of bread per person
butter
Vegemite*
grated Parmesan
grated 'tasty' (Cheddar style) cheese


Bring stock to boil, add cauliflower and cook until tender, stir in the Vegemite until dissolved, grind in some black pepper.

Puree in blender carefully or use stab blender. Return to pot, heat gently, and taste for seasoning.

Stir in the parsley and cream if using. Serve with Parmesan cheese grated over the top if not making the Cheesy Vegemite Fingers. Makes about 2 litres

To make the fingers, lightly toast the bread, and spread with butter and a hint of Vegemite (or to taste), sprinkle over a combination of the two cheeses and pop them under the griller (broiler) to melt. Cut into fingers and serve with the soup.

Serves 6

*If you prefer Marmite or Promite, these will work in the soup too, though Promite you will need to add twice as much (I feel) for best flavour.




If you are unfamiliar with Vegemite, please note the toast is not burnt, but simply spread with a light coating of Vegemite. Never has it been truer to say 'less is more' than with Vegemite, one of the reasons it is so dearly loved must be the fact that it's great value as you need so little to get a great flavour.

A little note on my photography. A while ago my camera hit the deck. It seems to be struggling to focus, and gets a little worse each day. As a new camera is not an everyday kind of purchase, I hope that my existing camera sticks with me enough to at least show what I'm cooking, even if it's not perfect. My apologies.