A mug of cauli cheese soup on Bonfire night

- Eddie, what did you have for lunch at school today?

- Not sure, Mummy, there was some white broccoli (yesterday's conversation on the way home from school)

A typical November weather - downcast and bleak, with a drizzle turning into a steady rain and back to drizzle. Who would want to spend an evening outdoors? Yet I bet many Brits will grit their teeth and venture out to "enjoy" the Bonfires and fireworks tonight. On a cold day like this what could be better than a mug of hot soup?

Rachel's Organic emailed me a few tempting recipes to try including this delicious cauliflower soup. From our yesterday's conversation with Eddie, I realised I don't cook cauliflower often enough, as he wasn't even sure what it's called, he thought it was a white broccoli. To remedy the lapse, I am cooking a cauli cheese soup tonight.

Cauliflower cheese soup: image credits - Rachel's Organic

Cauliflower cheese soup (recipe reproduced with kind permission from Rachel's Organic)

Ingredients:

1tbsp olive oil

1 leek, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

500g cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 litre hot vegetable stock

100g Cheddar cheese, grated

2tbsp Rachel's Greek style natural yogurt

salt & pepper

pinch of English mustard powder

to be served with homemade breadsticks:

450g strong bread flour, extra for dusting

1 sachet fast action yeast

100g Rachel's Greel Style natural low fat yogurt

150ml water

2tbsp olive oil, for greasing

Toppings (to be used as preferred):

2tsp sea salt

2tsp ground black pepper

2tsp poppy seeds

2tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp fresh rosemary or thyme

Serve 4 and makes 36 breadsticks
Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan or heavy bottom saucepan, add the leek and garlic clove and fry until softened.
Add the cauliflower and stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the cauliflower is cooked.

Add the cheese and allow to melt, remove the pan from the heat and add the Rachel's yogurt and seasoning; salt, pepper and a little pinch of English mustard powder

Allow the soup to cool slightly before transferring to a food processor and blend until smooth. Season again if necessary.

Serve in a bowl with warm breadsticks.

Method for breadsticks
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7
Dust 2 large baking trays with flour.
Put the flour, yeast and teaspoon of salt into a large bowl.
Using a jug weigh out the yogurt and water, and warm slightly in a microwave until just tepid or hand hot. Alternatively, warm in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water.
Add enough of the yogurt and water mixture to make a soft dough
Knead the dough well for 10 minutes on a lightly floured work surface or for five minutes using an electric mixer - the mixer must be fitted with a dough hook.
Divide the dough into 36 equal portions and roll the portions into balls, then roll them out into a long sausage approx 25 cm long.
Place the breadsticks on the prepared baking trays and space them apart. Cover the breadsticks with oiled clingfilm making sure this is airtight. Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the sticks have doubled in size.
Remove the clingfilm and sprinkle the bread sticks with your choice of toppings.
Bake the breadsticks until they are golden brown and feel firm. Remove the stick from the oven and leave to cool on baking trays.

I had no time to cook my own breadsticks today, and got a packet of Italian grissini.

If you're making your own, there's an easier way of making them rather than dividing into balls and then turning into sausages. I have recently posted a recipe for Grissini aka Italian breadsticks.

I suggest spreading the dough (half at a time) and rolling out with a rolling pin, to about 5mm thickness, then cutting it into strips about 1cm wide and 30-35cm long.

Disclosure: I received vouchers for free Rachel's Organic yogurt for the purposes of trying the recipe.