I’ve shared this before, but I felt inclined to mention the reason that I may share a lot of “soup and stew” recipes is because it’s one of my favorite meals(especially in the winter) to take to work with me for lunch during the week. So on most Sunday’s I make a big pot of soup and the soup this week happened to be Potato, Cauliflower, and Leek Soup.
Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add in the leeks, potatoes, and cauliflower. Sauté until leeks have broken down a bit and softened, 10 to 15 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the flour, coating all the veggies thoroughly and stir constantly for a 2 to 3 minutes, until flour turns slightly golden in color. (If the bottom of your pan is dry, then you may want to add one more tablespoon of butter because you don’t want the veggies to stick to the bottom of your pot.)
Slowly stir in the vegetable broth. (It will thicken, only slightly.) Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer until the potatoes are soft to the fork, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the half and half and simmer until warmed through, 3 to 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Enjoy!
Notes
A few substitutions for half and half milk would be the following : 1/2 cup of lactose free half and half milk (if available where you live- Land O Lakes and Organic Valley manufacture it), 1/4 cup of whole milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup of evaporated milk, 1/2 cup dairy free half and half (Califia Farms manufactures one called Unsweetened Better Half), unsweetened coconut milk- the amount will be based on your taste and I would recommend the lite version. The last suggestion is making a cashew cream with hot water and raw cashews, blended until silky smooth. If you haven't done that before, then I would recommend researching that.