Cauliflower Cheese Soup

We often serve a version of this soup as a starter for Thanksgiving Dinner. I have a recipe in my head that is more of a technique than a recipe. This year I determined to break with tradition and try following an actual recipe.

I found this recipe online at a site called Cooking With Karl as with all of these food blogs, I have no clue who Karli is but I trusted her enough to try this recipe out on my Thanksgiving Dinner guests! What tipped me to this one was it was made in the Instant Pot - it was ready in 20 minutes with prep, pressure build up, and release all included.

I modified things a bit - some purposeful and some accidental - I misread the mustard part and added dry mustard instead - it still tasted great and there was no overwhelming mustard flavour. With the cheese - Karli calls for a mix of yellow cheddar and pepper jack. With the Canada/US border closed it is hard to find pepper jack cheese. I used extra old white cheddar for the entire 2 3/4 cups.

This is a delicious soup. It comes together quickly and has a delicious flavour.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

• • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 6 cups cauliflower florets approx 2lb head of cauliflower
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp yellow mustard
  • 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
  • 3/4 cup pepper jack cheese shredded

Place the chicken broth, water, diced yellow onion, cauliflower florets and salt into the Instant Pot. (See post above for details on how to cut a head of cauliflower)

Cook on Manual HIGH for 4 minutes. Quick release the pressure.

Blend the cauliflower & broth mixture. This can be done by using an immersion blender or by transferring to a blender. If transferring to a blender, return to the Instant Pot after blending.

With the Instant Pot on keep warm, slowly whisk in the heavy cream.

Add the yellow mustard.

Slowly whisk in the cheese.

Taste test and add more salt if needed.

Serve immediately and garnish with extra cheese, bacon bits and chives if desired.

Stovetop Instructions: Simmer the broth, water, onion, cauliflower and salt for 15 minutes then follow directions starting on #3.