I have had a head of cauliflower staring at me in my refrigerator ever since I bought it a few weeks ago to add to some pickled vegetables. After adding all the other ingredients to the pickles, I ran out of room for the cauliflower so it was sent into storage.

Of course fresh produce can’t sit around for very long before its quality starts to degrade, it goes bad and eventually has to be discarded. This is something I try to avoid, so either I only purchase fresh produce if I have a specific use planned for it, or come up with a use in a relatively short period of time.

I happened to be working from home today, and it is a little chilly outside, so some fresh hot soup sounded really good.

Here is the recipe I put together for Cauliflower soup that I think you will really enjoy. In my household is a particularly finicky eater who told me they LOVED it! I hope you do too.

Creamy Parmesan and Bacon Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients
4 T Butter

1 small Onion, yellow diced
2 small Carrot, thinly sliced
2 stalk Celery, thinly sliced
1 Sweet bulb onion, diced
1 head Cauliflower coarsely chopped

2 qts Chicken broth

4 slices Bacon, thickly sliced
6 T Flour
2 c Milk
1 c Cream
1 c Parmesan cheese

1 T Salt, Kosher
1 T Pepper, ground

Sour Cream, room temperature

Instructions
In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the diced onion and cook until it becomes translucent. Then add the carrots, celery & sweet bulb onion and cook until tender.

Add cauliflower, cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Pour in chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

In a large saucepan cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon, reserving bacon fat. Add enough butter to the bacon fat in the pan to make 4 tablespoons total fat. Add flour and combine.

Add milk & cream and whisk until thick and smooth. Mix in Parmesan cheese.

Crumble the bacon and add to the soup along with this mixture and the salt & pepper.

Cook on medium until fully heated.

Pour into bowls and serve with a spoonful of sour cream on top.