Cauliflower Leek Soup

As you can probably tell by the pictures and use of words such as "glugs" I'm not super serious when it comes to things in the kitchen.  However, I do like to eat tasty things and I try to incorporate seasonal / home grown items into what I cook.  This soup qualifies as both and was inspired by this one from All Recipes.  I hope you enjoy it!

Yields: 4-6 servings

1 Head of Cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
2-4 Leeks (depends on size) light green/white part only, sliced into 1-inch (ish) pieces
1 or 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
6+ Cloves garlic, minced
32 oz. Broth (Chicken or Veggie)
1/2 cup Half and half (optional)
1 or 2 Glugs of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Snipped chives for garnish

   Saute your garlic, shallot, cauliflower, and leeks in the olive oil for about 10 minutes.  Add pepper.  Add broth, bring to a boil.  Cover and let soup simmer for about 25 minutes or until cauliflower is soft and easily breaks apart.  Take soup off of heat and blend until creamy.  Stir in cream, top with chives (if desired) and serve. 

A few notes:

-I use an immersion blender, but you can use a regular blender-just do it in batches and be aware that the steam can build up some pressure inside your blender.
-If you've never used leeks before, be warned, they can be super sandy.  Since they have so many layers, the dirt likes to get in between  them and this can make them hard to clean.  Rather than cleaning them first, I chop them up, put them in a collandar and poke them around a bit to seperate the layers.  Then you just spray them off and you're done.

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