Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Maple Candied Bacon, Fried Sage, and Brown Butter

Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Maple Candied Bacon, Fried Sage, and Brown Butter

 

[This creamy Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup is delicious enough for entertaining, but easy enough for a simple night in!] 

I love soup. I love it in the winter (obviously), but to be honest I eat soup all year round! 

This soup is one of my favorites to make when the weather starts to get cooler though, because it feels so dang cozy. 

Don’t let the long title scare you off! It’s really not difficult to make, and all of those delish toppings really push this soup to next-level comfort food. 

(Candied bacon, fried sage, and brown butter?? C’mon!) 

And there’s roasted garlic involved, so you know it’s gonna be good. πŸ˜‹

Roasted garlic is really something special. Even if you don’t think you like garlic, you probably will like roasted garlic. 

It’s sweet and mellow and adds so much flavor to everything it goes into–including this cauliflower and leek soup! 

If you’ve never cooked with leeks, now’s your chance!

I feel like leeks are a little underappreciated. I honestly had no idea what they were until a couple of years ago.  

They are in the onion fam, but they have a milder flavor than onions. When you roast them, they are sweet and add a great depth of flavor to soups. The green tops are the part of the plant that grows above the earth, and the bulb (the part that you eat) is underground. 

That’s why leeks need a good washing to make sure you get all of the sand/dirt out of the leaves. 

Ok Ok Ok. Bacon. 

On to the candied bacon. You could just crumble regular ol’ bacon over you soup. That would be amazing. 

BUT if you add a little maple syrup or coconut sugar to your bacon as you cook it, it gives that sweet and salty thing that’s so freakin yummy. 

And it’s the perfect little flavor bomb and crunch factor for this creamy cauliflower and leek soup. 

Finally, we are getting very *extra* with this soup and finishing it off with some fried sage leaves and browned butter. 

Because why the hell not? 

Fried sage is to die for. 

And since we’re frying the sage leaves in butter, you get sage flavored brown butter.

That right there is proof that life is worth living. πŸ‘Œ

Don’t be afraid of the fat in this soup 

I personally, used to avoid fat because I thought it was unhealthy. But then I learned that our bodies need fat (saturated fat, even!) to make hormones and rebuild cells. Plus it keeps us satiated, so we don’t go looking for snacks later. 

I just try to source really good quality fat. Kerry Gold butter is from grass-fed cows, and it’s my favorite. 

And when I get bacon I look for antibiotic-free and preferably organic/humanely raised. 

So don’t deny yourself those beautiful toppings!! 

This recipe is featured in the FeedFeed’s Brown Butter Feed. Check it out here