Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I am so excited to share this soup with you today! This recipe was added to our rotation just a few short months ago, and we've made it A LOT :) Before making this I had never cooked with cauliflower...ever...weird, I know. I was intrigued when the recipe said to roast the cauliflower first, and was excited to try this new technique.
I have to tell you, after I roasted the cauliflower, I snuck a couple because I wanted to see what flavors I was dealing with, and it was so good! You could actually just eat it like that. But, you should also try it in this amazing soup :)

Just a quick note, if you recall, my mom is a celiac and my parents were over one night while I was making this. I wanted them to have a chance to try it, so I decided to substitute 1 Tbsp corn starch for the 1 Tbsp flour, and it became gluten-free! Ingredients 1 whole head of cauliflower 3-4 garlic cloves 2 celery stalks, diced 1/2 white onion, diced 1 large carrot, diced (or 8-9 baby carrots) 1 Tbsp. butter 1 Tbsp flour (or corn starch) 2 c. chicken broth 1/2 c. water 1 dried bay leaf 1/2 c. heavy cream 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. paprika 1/4 tsp. thyme 1/4 tsp. pepper Pre-heat the oven to 400. The first thing you'll want to do is roast the cauliflower and garlic. Cut the cauliflower into individual florets and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the cauliflower on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil. Toss the garlic with a small amount of olive oil wrap it in tin foil. Roast both the garlic and cauliflower for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and thyme and cook for about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, water, bay leaf, and roasted garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 7 minutes. Add the cauliflower and simmer for 5 more minutes. Remove the bay leaf and add the heavy cream. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper and heat through. You can leave the soup and eat it this way, or working in batches, you can transfer it to a blender and chop or puree. We've had it both ways, and we prefer it chopped in the blender. Add a little parmesan cheese and enjoy!
For a printable version of the recipe click here
Recipe adapted from Cooking for Seven