French Onion Corn Chowder With Cauliflower Recipes

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place cauliflower florets on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast cauliflower for 30 to 35 minutes until fork tender and golden brown.
• Place a large saucepan or Dutch oven over MEDIUM heat. Add chopped bacon and cook until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer bacon to a plate and set aside.
• Pour off most of the bacon fat from the pan, leaving behind about 1 tablespoon. Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add diced onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for several minutes, stirring often until vegetables have softened. Add minced garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and thyme and cook just until garlic is fragrant.
• Add roasted cauliflower and broth to the pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to LOW, tuck bay leaf into soup and cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove bay leaf and use an immersion blender to purée slightly, leaving some of the cauliflower chunky to add texture to the soup. Alternately, you can carefully transfer about ¾ of the soup into a blender and purée until smooth, working in batches if necessary. Add puréed soup back into the pot.
• Stir in milk and corn. If using frozen corn, there is no need to thaw it first. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 or 4 minutes or until milk and corn are warmed through. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, fresh ground black pepper, and half of the cooked bacon.
• Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Garnish with reserved bacon, fresh parsley, and additional cheese.

HEARTY CORN CAULIFLOWER AND POTATO CHOWDER

Steps:

• CHOWDER:.
• Begin by frying bacon and set aside for use as topping.
• Use some of the bacon grease (enough to coat bottom of pan) to fry onion on medium heat until soft. 5-10 minutes depending how thick or finely you have chopped them.
• Toss in the diced potatoes and half of the chicken stock (1/4 cup), cover pot with lid and cook until soft. Approximately 15 minutes, but could be more or less depending on diced size.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Mash some of the potatoes with a fork (I usually mash about half of them).
• Push the mashed and the whole potatoes to one side of the pan and drop in the butter to melt. Using your fork, blend in the corn starch while slowing adding the remaining chicken stock to make a gravy -- keep stirring until thickened.
• Raise heat to medium high. Slowly add the milk while stirring contents. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce. Continue gently stirring contents to prevent scorching.
• Once the liquid begins to simmer, add corn, cauliflower, celery and carrot to pot and reduce the heat to low and cover.
• Allow to simmer, for about 1 hour or until cauliflower is soft. Do stir contents about every 15 to 20 minutes to prevent sticking and/or scorching.
• OPTIONAL:.
• Serve topped with cheddar cheese, green onion and bacon crumbles. If you enjoy some heat (spiciness), try using Monterrey Jack cheese.