It might be obvious that I'm a huge fan of cauliflower, since I use it in several recipes in my cookbooks, as well as recipes on my site. Did you know that cauliflower makes a great base for soup?

Here's a velvety green dream of a soup—a creamy, fresh-greens medley, infused with a few good seasonings. In fact you'll recognize all the ingredients as pretty basic, except for the truffle salt I snuck in at the end.

My older son treated me to truffle salt and truffle oil this past holiday season and it's a great complement to cauliflower and other vegetable-based recipes. No worries if you don't have truffled salt or oil, as it will still have great flavor with a simple fine salt. And if you do ever have the opportunity to try truffle salt or truffle oil, do so—it adds a subtle depth of flavor to vegetable soups and purées.

You can switch out some of the greens and onions if need be, so read the headnotes for any subs along the way. I favor spinach, zucchini, green onions, and parsley for this recipe but many other green and herb combos will work. I particularly love the parsley since it maintains the soup's verdant color.

Here are some topping suggestions for this soup:

garlic cashew cream
cashew cream (from my first cookbook)
yogurt
goat cheese or other soft cheese
roasted cauliflower (save some small pieces from step 2)
crispy shallots or onions
crumbled hard-boiled egg

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Green Velvet Soup

In case you need to sub a few things: In place of green onions you can use leeks, or yellow or white onion. For the spinach, you can sub with kale. You can use frozen spinach if you don't have fresh on hand.

If you want a sub for parsley, I’d suggest a fresh herb that you favor, such as chervil, basil, cilantro or tarragon—keeping in mind that these alternative herbs will change the flavor.

As for substituting truffle salt, you can use any salt you favor, such as a fine sea salt.

One last note—I usually use water for this soup because it’s easier and I don’t always have vegetable broth on hand.

Servings: servings

Calories: 98kcal

Ingredients

1 cauliflower head trimmed and diced into chunks
1 garlic clove peeled
1 teaspoon oil
5 green onions trimmed and diced
1 zucchini trimmed and diced
4 cups vegetable broth or water
10 ounces fresh spinach leaves
4 ounces parsley leaves about a handful
½ teaspoon truffle salt or regular salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C or gas mark 6) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
Mix together the diced cauliflower and garlic with 1 tablespoon of oil and ⅛ teaspoon salt and spread it across the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower begins to brown on the edges.
While the cauliflower is baking, heat a large saucepan on a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it.
Add the onions and zucchini to the saucepan and cook for 10 minutes or until the zucchini begins to soften and brown a bit.
Add the cauliflower and 4 cups of vegetable broth or water to the onions and zucchini and bring to a low boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the zucchini are tender.
Turn the heat off and add the spinach and parsley to the saucepan. Let the greens sit for a few minutes, or until they are wilted.
Add the truffle salt and lemon juice and stir the soup to blend well.
Using a blender, and immersion blender, or food processor, purée the soup in batches until it’s all well-blended and creamy.
Serve warm, or cold, or store in the refrigerator for a few days or freeze for a few months.

Nutrition

Comments

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Kristin says

April 27, 2014 at 3:56 pm

Where do you add the garlic??

- Erica says
  
  April 27, 2014 at 4:06 pm
  
  In step #2 🙂
  
Kristin says

April 27, 2014 at 3:52 pm

I don't see where you add the 2 cloves of garlic??

Sherrie | With Food + Love says

March 24, 2014 at 11:25 am

Hi Erica!

Thanks so much for the shout out - my garlic cashew cream would be a perfect addition for such a yummy and green spring soup.

XO SHERRIE

- Erica says
  
  March 24, 2014 at 12:08 pm
  
  you're most welcome! Cheers!
  
Barbara says

March 23, 2014 at 7:31 pm

Coukd you tell me at what point I combine the roasted cauliflower with the soup? Is it at simmering stage or blending stage? Many thanks

- Erica says
  
  March 23, 2014 at 7:37 pm
  
  Wow, thanks for catching that 🙂 - just added it in step 5 (when you add the water or broth).
  
  - Barbara says
    
    March 25, 2014 at 5:11 am
    
    Thank you. I made it and it is very yummy!
    
    - Erica says
      
      March 25, 2014 at 7:56 am
      
      Great to hear! Thanks.
      
      - Barbara says
        
        January 02, 2015 at 9:57 pm
        
        Hi Erica, Happy New Year!
        I still love making this green velvet soup.. find it great for weekday lunches.
        I asked for truffle salt for Christmas and got it!! so Iam really excited to try it with that and see how it tastes.
        Id really appreciate if you could tell me what else truffle salt works well with please?
        Many thanks. Barbara
Beth says

March 23, 2014 at 1:50 pm

Wow a very apt name for this soup. It is very velvety and rich tasting. It contains many of my favorite ingredients. I did have to substitute chicken broth for veggie. Thought I have some veggie but was out of it.

Love your recipes. All that I have tried are scrumptious. Can't believe they are so healthy and gluten free.

Thank you!

- Erica says
  
  March 23, 2014 at 4:20 pm
  
  Thanks, Beth! Truth be told, I use water most of the time since I rarely have vegetable broth ready-to-use, and it still tastes great.