Cauliflower Buttermilk Soup

By Jeannette Ordas of Everybody Likes Sandwiches

When it comes to buttermilk, I'm a convert. However, I never used to be like that. Whenever I'd see buttermilk in a recipe, I'd always sub in yogurt or add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to my milk to give it the requisite tang. It's not that I had a hate-on for the stuff, it was that I didn't want a huge carton of buttermilk hanging around in my fridge taking up space. But then I discovered the joy of making ranch dressing from scratch and decided that buttermilk was something that I could make room for.

I began using buttermilk in all the standard recipes like pancakes and biscuits and would even add it in my cakes if the recipe called for milk. I became a fan of the slightly sour tang that it lent to baked goods and salad dressings. So when I was making a pot of cauliflower soup and spotted a half empty carton of buttermilk, I decided to throw caution to the wind and poured it into my soup instead of milk. The results were fantastic. Creamy, tangy and comfort in one bowlful. The buttermilk really punched up the flavour and made this soup sing.

And just in case you are wondering if buttermilk is fattening? It's not. Real buttermilk is the milk leftover from the butter-making process, so most of the fat has already been removed. However, finding this real buttermilk is difficult (unless you buy directly from a farm or a small dairy). On store shelves you'll find buttermilk that has been cultured from low-fat milk.

Cauliflower Buttermilk Soup
1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 t salt
4 c water or stock
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 c parmesan cheese
large pinch of dried dill weed
1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
salt & pepper

Place the cauliflower, potatoes, onion and garlic into a large pot. Add in water or vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer (no lid needed) until vegetables are quite tender (about 30 minutes). Puree with a hand blender or transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.

Add in the buttermilk, Parmesan, dill and mustard and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve in deep bowls. This should make about 4 large servings.

Jan Halvarson

12 comments:

RedFenyx said...

seems super yummi!
Thanks for the recipe!

Sabahnur said...

yummy, nom nom:)

shellie said...

delicious! two of my faves buttermilk and cauliflower...

Plantress said...

now I feel like making a buttermily pound cake!

masakankue said...

Hmmm, you make me hungry. Thanks for the recipe. I need to get something to eat.

Valentina Harper said...

Looks delicious YUMYYY! I *LOVE* soups. I can have soup everyday.. hmmmmm

Coco Cake Land said...

soup looks great jeannette!

i am also a buttermilk fan. delightful for vanilla cupcakes! i discovered though, that buttermilk will NOT do in a pinch when you want some milk for your cereal. :)

Eva / Sycamore Street Press said...

I've always thought the same thing about buttermilk, but now I am going to give it a try. I'm sold!

Joanne said...

mmm, creamy cauliflower soup sounds great!! Thanks for addressing my dilemma with buttermilk! I think it's genious how you can easily sub buttermilk into standard everyday recipes in lieu of milk. I'll be looking at buttermilk with a new set of eyes and recipes now!

Lila said...

Oh yum! My sister drinks it plain! YUCK!
Lila Ferraro
Queen Bedroom Sets

Karen Meyers said...

I'm gonna try that!

Anonymous said...

Heh, buttermilk, 'kærnemælk', is pretty standard in all supermarkets here in Denmark