the soup nazi

"You can't eat this soup standing up, your knees buckle."

- Jerry, in The Soup Nazi

It is fall and one of the very best things about this time of year to me is soup.  I especially like to make soup on the weekends while my husband watches sports.  I do not watch sports but I do enjoy cooking.    Today's selection is Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Rosemary Lemon Chicken and I do believe the Soup Nazi would approve.  Judging by the clanging sound of Robert's spoon scraping the sides of the bowl, it definitely scored with him.

Soup Nazi Soup

2 raw chicken breasts
nice handful of chopped rosemary
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
one head of cauliflower chopped in big chunks

"You are the only one who understands me."

"You suffer for your soup."

- The Soup Nazi and Kramer

Earlier in the day place salted and peppered raw chicken breasts in a zip bag with rosemary, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Put in fridge to marinate.  If this is just too much suffering for you, you can use a pre-cooked rotisserie bird.

Later in the day, toss chopped cauliflower in olive oil, salt and pepper, and place on baking sheet and then into preheated 400 degree oven for an hour or so.  Let it get toasty and brown and crunchy - trust  me, it tastes better this way.  Set aside.

olive oil

chopped leeks

1 tsp. minced garlic

one smallish red skin potato chopped with peel

chicken broth

salt and pepper

And finally, into a soup pot put olive oil, leeks, salt and pepper.  Cook till done, then turn heat to low and add garlic.  Next add chicken broth, chopped potato, and roasted cauliflower - increase heat.  As the soup simmers, take the chicken out of marinade and sear on both sides in a hot skillet.  Then place the partially cooked chicken in a 375 degree pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

When potatoes are done, use a hand held emulsion blender to puree the mixture.  I blended most of mine and left some of it chunky as well.

"So, essentially, you chose soup over a woman?"

"It was a bisque."

- Elaine and Jerry

Ladle the soup into bowls and add chopped chicken.  Blending the ingredients yields a lovely indulgent quality to this endeavor, that quite frankly is... irresistible.

"Shhh!  I gotta focus.  I'm shifting into soup mode."

- George

Bon appétit, shmoopy...