Creamy Cauliflower Soup - The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook - Recipe # 1

The soup-loving Mr. T. picked this recipe out of the "30 minute" South Beach Cookbook. This book was bought to add some tasty, but low calorie recipes to Toasty's repertoire, rather than with any intention of following the South Beach diet. Many of the recipes in this book look very appealing, with a small number of healthy ingredients that seem like they should go together well. Others, however, are of the "1/2 cup of sugar substitute" variety that Toasty has no interest in. I would much rather try somethig new that is naturally low calorie than have a "full figured" recipe tortured into a low calorie travesty.

So... back to the soup. Cauliflower soups often involve cream to soften the rather strident flavour of the cauliflower and to give the soup a rich body and silky texture. This South Beach version uses reduced fat sour cream instead. All in all the sour cream works quite well, although Toasty had to double the quantity as otherwise the soup was too mushy and wasn't pulled together flavour-wise. Even doubling the sour cream doesn't add too many calories to the recipe.


Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 cauliflower

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, sliced thinly

1/4 tsp salt

4 cups water

1/4 cup (or 1/2 cup!) reduced fat sour cream

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

salt and pepper


Cut the cauliflower into florettes and slice the stems into 1/4 inch pieces, slice the onion.

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and fry the onion for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the cauliflower and the salt, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the water, bring to a simmer and cook, covered for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft.

Puree the saucepan contents until smooth. Stir in the sour cream and nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.