You could measure my life in bowls of soup. Each New Year’s Day brings a pot of lentil soup (a good-luck symbol throughout much of Europe); pea and mint soup is to celebrate early summer; cabbage soup for colds and crash diets; parsnip soup for frosty weekends; chicken broth to cleanse my soul. You probably don’t want to know about the parsimonious soup-stew I put together from the weekly fridge cleanup. I do believe in the power of soup to restore our spirits and to strengthen and protect us. Steaming, frugal, yet curiously luxurious, soup replaces many a meal in this house. With a good loaf on the bread board and fresh salad in the bowl, I have no shame in serving soup to visitors (only amusement in watching them looking round in vain for a main course). I first came up with the idea of this soup years ago, and have watched it do the rounds, yet it has never made it into any of my own books until now. It has something of the Welsh rarebit about it.

　　

Ingredients

enough for 4 to 6

　　butter – 4 tablespoons (50g)

　　an onion, coarsely chopped

　　garlic – 2 cloves, crushed

　　a cauliflower – broken into florets

　　bay leaves – 2

　　crème fraîche – 3/4 cup (200ml)

　　whole-grain mustard – 1 heaping tablespoon

　　Gruyère, Cantal, or strong Cheddar – about 3/4 cup (120g) coarsely grated

　　

To Finish

dark rye bread – 2 slices

　　grated Gruyère – 1 heaping tablespoon

　　

Step 1

Melt the butter in a large, deep pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft, but don’t let them color. Boil the cauliflower in about 3 1/2 cups (850ml) water until tender (about eight to ten minutes). Add the bay leaves to the onion, then add the cauliflower and its cooking water. Bring to a boil and add sea salt and black pepper. Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes, until the vegetables are truly soft. Remove the pan from the heat, discard the bay leaves, and let the soup cool slightly. Then, in two batches, purée the soup in a blender. Pour the mixture back into the pan and stir in the crème fraîche, mustard, and grated cheese. Bring the soup slowly back to a simmer.

　　

Step 2

To finish, preheat the broiler. Toast the bread on both sides, cover with the grated cheese, and let it melt under the hot broiler. Cut into triangles and float them on the soup.

　　Tender