If you’ve ever eaten a pureed soup and, after the first dozen bites or so, found yourself getting a little bored, you need to learn the following trick: Hold out some of your ingredients, before or after cooking, and add them back in the form of a garnish right before serving. It makes all the difference in the world, giving enough textural variation to keep things interesting as you drain the bowl.
The garnish ingredients can be raw or cooked, as long as they’re pleasant enough to eat.
In the case of this recipe from Christopher Kimball’s new cookbook “Cookish,” the garnish consists of some of the almonds that you use to start off the dish by frying in oil and harissa spice blend (rather than the paste). The almonds offer richness and body to this cauliflower soup, making it creamy without cream. The spice blend gives a mild kick of heat, but don’t fret: If you can’t easily find it, you can easily sub in good old chili powder — or whatever other spice or blend you might have around.
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After you reserve half the spiced almonds, you add the cauliflower and some onion, simmering the mixture in water until everything is soft before pureeing it smooth. A little fresh lemon juice brightens the soup, and on top go those nuts — plus some chopped cilantro.
It’s such a smart combination that you can easily think of it as a blueprint, subbing out elements at will and to your taste: nuts + spices + vegetable + liquid = soup, all fall and all winter long. Just don’t forget that garnish.
Storage Notes: The soup can be refrigerated, without the garnish, for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.
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