Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

Day 3 of 30 Soups in 30 Days...

This one takes a little forethought, but if you roast everything on a day when you have the time and then freeze it, you can throw this one together in a matter of minutes. Do roast things when instructed, though -- don't try to get away with microwaving them. Roasting gives this soup it's characteristic flavor; nuking makes things bland and tasteless.

If keeping this recipe vegan is not important to you, feel free to substitute the vegetable stock with beef stock. We leave out the dairy, too -- but adding the cream at the end makes this soup especially velvety.

Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:
1 head cauliflower
1/2 head garlic
1 large celery root (if you can find it; "large" means that if you grab it with both hands, your fingers do not touch) or 2 -3 small ones
Olive oil spray
6-8 cups vegetable stock
Salt & pepper
OPTIONAL 1/2 cup heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Break/cut cauliflower into florets and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Using a silpat mat is useful; if you don't have one, be sure to spray the sheet first or use parchment paper.
• Cut the top 1/4 off the garlic and spray with olive oil. No need to peel. Wrap in foil (not tightly – leave room for air to circulate) and place on the same cookie sheet.
  
• Peel the celery root -- a regular potato peeler works well, though depending on the variety, you may need to use a paring knife to get the skin out of the nooks and crannies at the very bottom. If your root came with stalks attached, save them -- you can even cut the top of the celery root off, place it in a plate of water, and regrow celery...more on this in a future post.
• Cut the celery root into pieces about the same size as your cauliflower florets, and spread on the same cookie sheet if there's room -- otherwise, roast separately.
• Spray everything with olive oil spray. If this isn't an option for you, drizzle everything with oil and use your hands to spread it as evenly as possible.
• Roast vegetables and garlic until soft and lightly browned, tossing once or twice. This can take anywhere between 30-50 minutes.
• Remove the vegetables from the oven. If the garlic is not browned and soft, keep roasting the garlic alone for another 20 minutes or so.
• When garlic is finished, you should be able to squeeze it from the root end and watch the cloves squirt out the other. Get as much of the garlic out as possible. Place all cloves and vegetables in a large pot and add about 1 cup of the stock. If you intend to eat this right away, be sure your stock is already warm or hot. If you're going to freeze the soup, there's no need to heat the stock ahead of time.
  
• Using an immersion blender (or, if you don't have one, a regular blender...but this is much easier with an immersion blender and once you get one you won't believe how you ever lived without it), blend everything into a very smooth paste, adding stock if needed.  Keep adding stock until the soup reaches your desired consistency.
• **NOTE** Don't add all the stock at once! Not only do you run the chance of making the soup too thin, but you'll make one gigantic mess with your immersion blender if you're not particularly adept at using it. Just add a little at a time.
• Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Reheat gently, if necessary.
  
• Add cream, if desired.