Cream of cauliflower soup with bacon sprinkles

• butter↗25g g
• large onion↗1

  finely chopped

• leek↗1

  finely sliced

• celery↗3

  sticks, finely sliced

• cauliflower↗2

  cut into florets

• milk↗500ml ml
• vegetable stock↗1l l
• double cream↗150ml ml
• grating of nutmeg
• crisp bacon

  bits (optional)

• rough croûtons
• chopped hard-boiled eggs
• crumbled blue cheese

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, leek and celery. Cook very gently for 10 mins until soft but not coloured. Add the cauliflower, milk and stock. Bring to a simmer, then gently cook for 10-12 mins until the cauliflower is tender. Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Season with salt and nutmeg, then place in a blender and blitz until smooth. If you like, you can sieve the soup to make it even smoother – I think this makes a difference and doesn’t take much more effort, but it’s certainly not essential.

2. 2

   To serve, bring the soup to the table in the pan with a ladle and little dishes of all the different things you want to serve as sprinkles. Let everyone help themselves. I like to take little servings of soup and scatter over something different each time for variety.