Cauliflower Soup with Brown Butter and Crispy Foie Gras

Another winner from Patricia Wells, she has never let me down. This soup is amazingly creamy and smooth and indulgent with a touch Foie Gras. Be CAREFUL when you add the cauliflower the the brown butter mine spattered and spurted a bit – so have a lid handy. This soup would be great with Foie too.

Ingredients:
1 large head of cauliflower, broken into florets
Salt
Juice of 1 lemon
4 TBSP butter
1 quart of chicken stock
Pepper
4 oz fresh Foie sliced 1 inch thick

In a large pot fitted with steamer bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, add 2 TBSP salt and lemon juice. Add florets once water is boiling and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Drain. Transfer to blender of food processor and purée till smooth.

In a 6 quart pot over medium high heat, melt butter. Watch it closely you want to remove it from the heat once it starts to turn golden. Add the cauliflower puree – carefully, if it start to splatter, cover with a lid for a couple minutes and try again. Stir in stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium non stick skillet over medium high heat cook the Foie, about 30 seconds per side. Cut into a fine dice (I did this in the serving bowls so not lose any of the rendered fat). Pour any rendered fat in the pan into the soup.

Ladle soup into bowls top with crispy foie.

Serves 6.

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Beer Quick Bread

This bread literally takes less than an hour to whip up, and 40 minutes of that is baking time. It is oh so tasty too! If you don’t have whole wheat you can use all regular, personally I like a combo it adds a nice flavor.

Ingredients:
2 c all purpose flour
1 c of whole wheat
1 TBSP baking powder
3 TBSP coconut palm or regular sugar
1 tsp salt
1 bottle (12 oz) beer, at room temp
1/4 c unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray your loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the beer all at once, mixing as little as possible; the batter should be lumpy.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and brush with the melted butter. Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 1 loaf.