I feel like every fancy dinner party should have a soup course. You don’t have to make very much of it as everyone only needs a small bowl since it’s one course among many. I like making pureed soup for parties because they are really simple, can be made ahead of time without overcooking, and look super elegant. They can be made with almost any vegetable, in any color you desire. We had a seafood theme for the night I made this so I garnished it with a lovely seared sea scallop and topped it with locally grown radish and amaranth micro-greens for a pop of color.
Curried Cauliflower Soup with a Seared Scallop
August 18, 2015
Category
From the Garden
From the Sea
Recipes
Persons
6
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 of a medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp salted butter
- 1 tsp roasted garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp Balti curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream
- 1-2 sea scallops per person
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and white pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Cauliflower Soup:
- Place 1 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan and allow to melt over medium heat.
- Dice your sweet onion and add it to the butter with a pinch of salt and allow the onions to sweat for about 5 minutes or until they become translucent.
- Add your Balti curry powder, turmeric and roasted garlic powder to the onions. Stir constantly so that the spices do not burn, allowing them to bloom in the butter for about a minute.
- Pour in the chicken broth and then add your diced potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes before adding in the chopped cauliflower since the potatoes will take longer to cook.
- Make sure the liquid in the saucepan comes up to the top of the vegetables and then cover with a lid cooking for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- For the next step you will need to blend the soup, I happen to own a stick blender which makes blending a hot soup pretty easy if you are careful. If you only have a conventional blender let your cooked vegetable cool for a little while before attempting to blend them to reduce the risk of burning yourself.
- Add the cream after you have blended the soup a little bit. The cream will be less likely to break at a cooler temperature, and will thin out the mixture. Blend until very smooth and creamy.
- Return to saucepan to keep warm and add salt and a pinch of white pepper to taste.
For the Scallops:
- Rinse your scallops and remove the small side muscle attached to the scallops. Not all of the scallops may have a side muscle as sometimes they fall off during harvesting, but you'll want to check every scallop as the side muscle is tough and unappealing.
- Dry them off with a paper towel and sprinkle with either kosher or sea salt.
- Using a non-stick skillet at high heat, add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil. When the oil it hot add the scallops to the pan and sear on each side for one and a half minutes. The outside should have a golden brown crust and just firm to the touch.
© 2024 Copyright Alaskan Fish and Chicks
We are both born and raised in Alaska, land of the midnight sun and fishing at 2am. We love to find new ways to use fresh ingredients or put a modern spin on an old Alaskan classic. We hope you will enjoy tasting Alaska.