Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Maple Candied Bacon, Fried Sage, and Brown Butter
I love soup. Honestly, I could eat it every day in the winter. I think that soup is to winter as salad is to summer. In the cold months, our bodies spend time rebuilding themselves, and once it’s warmer they transition their energy to cleansing and detoxifying. It’s why it feels so right to nourish our bodies with richer and heartier foods come wintertime. And I don’t know about you, but I’m listening to what my body has to say. Especially if it involves candied bacon and brown butter.
And garlic!!
These humble little bulbs are one of my very favorite foods on Earth. Used in nearly every cuisine across the globe, they impart a rich and complex flavor to anything they touch. I love it raw (sorry to anyone who I may have previously offended) especially in a classic tzaziki- which I ate by the spoonful when I lived in Greece.
True story.
But roasted garlic is really something special. It loses it’s harsh bite, and becomes sweet and mellow. Begging to be spread over toast, or whizzed into winter soups.
Leeks are never happier than when soup season rolls back around. You could replace the leek with an onion, but if you’ve never cooked with leeks before now is your chance. They have a milder flavor than onions, and once roasted they are sweet and add a great depth of flavor to soups. The green tops are the part of the plant that grows above the earth, while their bulb resides beneath. Leeks need a good bath to make sure no sand ends up in the bottom of your soup bowl.
Not that a little dirt would hurt you if it did end up in your bowl, just not the kind of texture you might be looking for.
I prefer to add a little crunch in the form of maple candied bacon. I’d suggest you do the same.
The best meals, in my opinion, are varied not only in flavor but in texture as well (and coincidentally include bacon).
And this soup is full of wonderful textures. The soup itself is rich and creamy… the bacon, well come on, you know the bacon’s amazing, but the real cincher is the fried sage. It’s so to die for. If you’re the cook, plan on making a few extra leaves to snack on while you’re preparing dinner. And since you fry them up crispy in in the butter, you get sage flavored brown butter.
That right there is proof that life is worth living.
And if you’re still one of those folks who thinks butter is a food we should be avoiding, you can read why I’m a butter believer here.
You’re welcome.
And the same goes for good quality bacon. Fat is not to be feared, as our bodies need the saturated fat found in bacon and butter to synthesize hormones and rebuild cells. Maybe that’s why these foods are more appealing in the winter, when our bodies are busy rebuilding.
I’m more than happy to give my body the building blocks it’s asking for.
What about you??
Winter is only so long, after all.
This soup looks incredible! Your photos are totally gorgeous too.
Trish
It is so yummy, hope you try it!
Definitely in the mood for soup right now after seeing this post. Not only does this soup look delicious but it is so beautifully captured as well – pinned!
Thanks, Thalia! Hope to see some soup coming from Butter and Brioche as well… I’m on a soup kick and I want all the inspiration I can get!
Allyson, Glad to see you champion the merits of butter! I’m old enough to remember churning the the milk into butter that my grandparents carried in fresh from milking the cows. I will try the soup. Where do you find the time for this??
Hope you try the soup! My mom says this one I have to make for her
test comment