Erica De Mane

Cauliflower lady with a basket hat.

Recipe: Cauliflower and Fennel Soup with Chervil and Thyme

Lately I’ve been making a lot of puréed soups, mainly for my mother, whose age and aging temperament they sooth. I don’t generally have a plan. That is, I don’t have much in mind when I wander over to the Greenmarket and gaze around. I just look for stuff that seems easily blendable and not too sharp or spicy. This week I grabbed a big cauliflower and a few small bulb fennel and took them home.

It’s strange how a puréed vegetable soup, such as carrot for instance, can sometimes taste weakly of what it is, even when I refrain from adding elements that might get in the way of the vegetable’s pure taste, such as a heavy broth. The essence of carrot I find particularly elusive. I say this because last week I made a soup that was basically just carrot, and it tasted very little of carrot, and these were local, beautiful, dark orange, New Jersey specimens. It’s a mystery. Salt, lemon, a touch of sugar, all my easy-fix remedies, failed to up the soup’s flavor.

I’m happy to say that this week’s cauliflower and fennel pairing produced an exceptionally good soup, both flavors playing off each other to create a taste greater than the parts. I did jack it up with fennel seed and a drizzle of Pernod, but other than that I did my usual, which is usually not to tinker too much. The most important technique when making a good vegetable soup is to make sure you sauté the vegetable well in olive oil or butter to bring out its flavor. I did this with the carrots and still failed to get a result I was happy with, but if you just go and dump vegetables in boiling water without a preliminary sauté, you will fail every time, I assure you.

Cauliflower and Fennel Soup with Chervil and Thyme

(Serves 5)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus an extra drizzle
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
2 summer garlic bulbs, roughly chopped
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed and sliced, including a small handful of the feathery fronds
About a dozen fennel seeds, ground to a powder
1 small branch of thyme
1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 large cauliflower, cut into large flowerets
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A generous pinch of Basque pimenton d’espelette
1 teaspoon Pernod or another pastis
1½ cups light chicken broth
A handful of chervil sprigs for garnish

Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium flame. Add the shallots, garlic, and fennel, and sauté for a few minutes to release all their flavors. Add the fennel fronds, fennel seeds, thyme branch, potato, and cauliflower, season with salt and black pepper, and sauté a few minutes longer, coating everything well with the oil. Add the pimenton d’espelette, just a touch, and the pastis. Add the chicken broth and enough water to just cover the vegetables. Cook, uncovered, at a lively bubble, until all the vegetables are soft.

Remove the thyme branch, and then purée the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor, and return it to the pot. Add more water if you think it’s too thick (I like mine a bit on the thin side), add a generous drizzle of fresh olive oil, and check the seasoning. Reheat gently, and serve, garnishing each bowl with chervil sprigs.