Cauliflower and Potato Soup with White Beans

feeding yourself all the time sucks but you still have to do it

things you’ll need: the heart of the soup is stock, cauliflower, white beans, potatoes, aromatic herbs (thyme or some such), and salt

every ingredient after that is up to you: garlic, leeks or onions, celery, carrots, white wine, lemon, balsamic, parmesan rinds, sour cream or yogurt, subbing nutmeg for aromatics, paprika, parsley, chives, scallions, cheddar, croutons, potato chips (highly recommend), butter, bacon, or whatever gets you going.

lots of variations out there, but the potato chip thing came directly from Sarah DiGregorio over at The New York Times (ingredient list also found here, sans paywall). More variations found here, here, and here, though not all contain beans.

incidentally gluten-free and vegetarian, vegan if you leave out dairy or sub a vegan creamy/cheesy element of your choice (sour cream, yogurt, nutritional yeast, and so on)

Chapter 204

It’s hard to be excited about food (and many other things) from inside your houseoffice, the confines of your miniquarentine, or your general lack of doing anything other than what most needs to be done at that very moment.

You have been feeding yourself for a very long time now. Even if you have the time to cook and usually enjoy cooking, that doesn’t mean that you want to do it, especially not every day and all the time forever. The other day you ate a whole box of thin crackers made from wheat or rice and that was fine, kind of. Maybe you also had cheese or a handful of nuts. Whatever. You didn’t die.

Surviving seems to be the bar lately. That’s a shitty bar, like that dive bar that smelled like pee sometimes. It’s not the bar you like or even respect, it’s the bar you settle for because it’s the only one still open. You can do better than that and you’re slow cooker will help you, even if no one else will.

Dump a pound of roughly chopped cauliflower into your slow-cooker along with 3 cups of white beans (1 cup, pre-soaked, or 2 cans, rinsed) and a pound of hastily pealed and artlessly quartered Yukon gold potatoes. Add one quart of stock (more if using pre-soaked beans) along with whatever alliums you have around (onions and garlic) and that’s basically the soup.

If this is all you can manage, that’s ok. If you feel like you can do a little more, then add aromatics, like thyme or herbs de provence. Derive pleasure from chopping more vegetables? Add celery and carrots. Can’t move on until you’ve added an acid? Use a little dry white wine and lemon juice or just a couple tablespoons of balsamic. If you’re into butter, toss some in. Have an extra parmesan rind hanging out in the freezer? Into the pot. Smoked paprika, bacon fat, coconut milk, or whatever occurs to you. Into the pot.

Cover and cook on low for 8-ish hours or high for 6-ish hours, until the veggies are tender. Yes, you can simmer it on the stovetop if you don’t have a slow cooker. Yes, you can do it in the instant pot on high for like 18-20ish minutes if you have no spoons or time to plan anything 8 hours prior to being hungry because you live with people who need things and accomplishing anything other than leaving the house in the morning is a laughable ambition, or whatever.

However you’ve cooked it, blend it after the veggies are tender enough (fish out the parmesan rind first if you used one). You can use an immersion blender or a potato masher or whatever object/device will serve the purpose. Add more stock (water+bouillon) if it’s too thick. Salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in some sour cream or yogurt or don’t. Top with cheddar and potato chips (sour cream and onion or salt and vinegar). Put together a fancypants parsley pesto with walnuts to drizzle or roast some cauliflower to artfully arrange as a garnish or fry up some bacon to crumble or don’t because you’ve done enough already.

Even if it’s only well-seasoned potatoes, cauliflower, beans and broth, it’s enough. Freeze a little to eat instead of skipping whatever future meal you are too tired to make.

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