What I learned today (or how I learned to stop worrying and love frozen vegetables)

Today, I learned that there are vegetables other than peas, corn, lima beans, and spinach that are not totally useless when frozen. Specifically, when using it in a soup, frozen cauliflower can be awesome.

I found a recipe this weekend for a Moroccan salad called Zaalouk that can be made with cauliflower, and I thought to myself “damn, those look like fine soup ingredients.” So I tried it out, and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a fantastic, healthy (if you’re into that sort of thing), vegan (if you’re into that sort of thing) soup.

Cauliflower Zaalouk Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced fine
8 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 12 oz bag frozen cauliflower
3 c chicken broth
1/2 c parsley or cilantro, chopped fine

In a 2 to 4 quart sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat, and add the onions, garlic, and salt, and saute for about 5 min, till the onions are translucent. Add the spices and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and saute for another 3 or 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a deep brick red. Add the cauliflower and toss to coat.

Add the chicken stock, jack the heat up to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer till the cauliflower is very tender, about 15 minutes. Use a stick blender or regular blender and puree the soup till it’s very smooth.

Allow the soup to sit off the heat for about 5 minutes. This will allow it to cool to a point where it’s edible (it’s currently cauliflower-flavored lava), then stir in the herb of your choice and serve with crusty bread.

Edit: I know I marked this as vegan, but used chicken broth. Apologies. If you wanted it to be vegan, just use vegetable broth or water. The chicken broth I used was homemade and mostly for texture. The flavors of the ingredients are more than strong enough to make up for using water.