Roasted cauliflower soup with crispy lentils – creamy and utterly irresistible.
Roasted cauliflower soup with crispy lentils – a wonderfully creamy, full-bodied soup with plenty of flavour. Roasting the cauliflower in the oven gives it a lovely depth and a slightly caramelised flavour, and together with roasted onions and garlic it makes the most delicious base for the soup.
The cauliflower is tossed with olive oil, ground cumin, fresh thyme, salt and pepper and roasted until tender in the oven along with the onions and garlic. Everything is then blended with stock into a silky, creamy cauliflower soup before it is finished with cream and freshly squeezed lemon juice. The lemon gives exactly the acidity that suits this rich, creamy soup so well.
While the cauliflower roasts, I make the crispy green lentils. They are tossed with a little olive oil and spices and baked in the oven until they are crisp and golden. You can use tinned green lentils or lentils you cook yourself – the important thing is that they are thoroughly dry before they go into the oven. That way they turn properly crisp and give the loveliest contrast to the creamy soup.
Serve the soup with plenty of crispy lentils, a few florets of the roasted cauliflower, fresh thyme, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil on top. A really easy and genuinely delicious vegetarian cauliflower soup that is both filling and warming – and which gets the most wonderful flavour from the oven-roasted cauliflower.
Roasted cauliflower soup with crispy lentils
Ingredients
Roasted cauliflower soup
- 1,2 kg cauliflower, cut into small florets
- 2 onions, halved (skin on)
- 4 cloves garlic, skin on – trim off the root end
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 800-1000 ml stock, chicken or vegetable
- 75 ml cream
- 1 lemon, juice of
- Olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Crispy lentils
- 200 g dried green lentils (or 2 tins of lentils)
- Olive oil
- Spices
To serve
- Fresh thyme, to serve
- A drizzle of olive oil
Method
Prepare the green lentils
- If using tinned green lentils, rinse them thoroughly and leave them to drain well in a sieve. Then pat them dry with kitchen paper or a tea towel.
- If using dried lentils, rinse them thoroughly, then cook them in lightly salted water for about 20 minutes. Rinse them in cold water and leave them to drain well in a sieve. Then pat them dry with kitchen paper or a tea towel.
Soup and lentils
- Toss the cauliflower florets with a good glug of olive oil and season with salt, freshly ground pepper, cumin and thyme.
- Spread them out on a baking tray together with the onions, placed cut side down, and the garlic cloves.
- Roast in a preheated fan oven at 200°C for about 35-40 minutes – on one of the upper shelves.
- Toss the lentils with a little olive oil too and season with salt and freshly ground pepper – plus a little smoked paprika, cumin, onion powder or whatever flavours you fancy, if you like.
- Spread them out on a second baking tray lined with baking paper and bake them in the oven as well, on one of the lower shelves, alongside the cauliflower for about 20-25 minutes. Turn them once during baking.Leave the lentils to cool on the baking tray.
- When the cauliflower is tender and golden, tip it into a blender together with the onions and garlic – remember to remove the skins from the onions and garlic before they go into the blender.
- If you like, set aside a few of the small cauliflower florets – they make a lovely garnish on top of the soup.
- Pour over the hot stock and blend the soup until completely smooth.
- Add the cream and freshly squeezed lemon juice – start with the juice of 1/2 lemon and give the soup a quick blend. Season to taste with more lemon juice, salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Serve the soup topped with crispy lentils, fresh thyme and, if you like, a few of the small cauliflower florets. Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve.
Nutrition
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