Purplicious Soup

While perusing FoodGawker (yet again), I came across a picture that I just HAD to click on. It was a bowl of PURPLE something and had the title “You kids will love it — what could it be?” I had to know…

The link produced a recipe for Purple Cauliflower Soup… simple and not cream-based (meaning not TOO fattening). I knew immediately that I would have to try it, though I also knew that MY kid wouldn’t love it. In fact, I was 100% sure MY kid wouldn’t even try it.

So on my next visit to Russo’s Market in Watertown, MA, I picked up a head of purple cauliflower. How can you not love this color…

Saturday afternoon I decided to whip up a batch of this soup….

Recipe (Taken from the website Chez Us)

Purple Cauliflower Soup
* adapted from Simply Recipes

Bring 1 quart of water to a rolling boil in a medium-sized pot. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the water.  Add the cauliflower, shallots, and garlic, and cook until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove florets, shallots and garlic to a bowl. Reserve cooking water.

Working in batches, fill a blender half-way with cooked cauliflower, add enough cooking water to the blender bowl so that it comes up a quarter of the way. Purée until smooth. You want the consistency to be that of soup, so if you need to add more water, do so. For each blender batch, add salt and butter to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and about a tablespoon or more of butter for each blender batch). Since you are using only lightly salted cooking water for a base, not stock, you will need to salt this more than you would otherwise.

Serve immediately into bowls. Add a pat of butter, let melt slightly and serve.

Serves 4

It smelled divine and tasted even better! While my soup was not as rich in the color purple as the folks who I borrowed the recipe from, it still had a distinctive purple hue:

And the best part of all??? The 4-yo DID try it! He said he liked it… but he was also being bribed with a piece of chocolate as a reward for trying the soup. He ate three spoonfuls and if you have been following the plight of this forever-fasting child, you will know that this is a HUGE accomplishment!

So those of you with picky eaters… try this purple soup. I cannot guarantee your child will eat it, but it’s worth a shot!