I had a head of cauliflower and began looking for new recipes to use it in, and this one caught my eye because it is carrot based rather than tomato based.
Notes: I'm not sure what chile powder means here (like the spice blend that you use for making chili, or cayenne pepper, or what?). I didn't want it to be TOO spicy and there was already crushed red pepper flakes, so adding even more sharp heat with cayenne seemed like a bad idea. I put in some chili powder but then decided that was not the right flavor, and threw in a bunch of curry powder. I liked the curry powder. I used about 3/4 of a 1 lb bag of baby carrots instead of cutting whole ones into rounds because it's what I had. I used Better than Bouillon's No-Chicken Base + water instead of vegetable broth because I don't like the taste of most vegetable broth, especially if it's too strong. I topped it with chopped cilantro and ate it with some goat cheese toast.
Verdict: It tasted fine but not exceptional. I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again for the amount of work involved (pureeing the soup and especially separately roasting the cauliflower only to sog it up by throwing it in liquid). I didn't have chickpeas when I found the recipe and while I did end up buying some, I almost feel like this might be more delicious and texturally interesting with red lentils. I'm not sure whether you'd want to cook them in the soup after blending it, or cook them separately and add them in when you'd add the chickpeas.
RECIPE: Warming Carrot Cauliflower Stew
