Cauliflower and Cannellini Bean Soup

The weather is finally starting to cool down a bit here, after a very long and above-normal temperature Summer and Autumn.  I actually made this soup in Spring, in October, but here we are at last.  The recipe calls for pancetta, but as Mr P. and I do not eat pig, I decided to whack in some mushrooms instead.  Definitely not foraged!  Hehehe ... You will get this reference if you're an Aussie, and if not, check out 'The Mushroom Killer'! 

This recipe is from Slow Cooking:Wholefood Recipes, by Olivia Andrews.  I made it for Cookbook Club last year, while the weather was still a bit doubtful as to its primary function in Spring :=)  And then we got the continuous, endless Summer!  Anyways, Winter is kind of a-coming at long last ...  (22C today, and I have a T-shirt and over-shirt on, and long pants and socks!)

thick and warming

Serves 4:

ingredients:

For the mushroom garnish:

1 Tbs EV olive oil

1 Tbs butter

150g./5.5 oz white or brown cup mushrooms, chopped  (I used white cup)

1 Tbs tamari or soy sauce

1-2 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1-2 tsp dried herbs - oregano/chives/parsley etc - your choice

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

one guess? :=)

For the soup:

another Tbs of EV olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 large brown or red onion, finely (or roughly!) chopped

1 small cauliflower, chopped up, stem too!    see Notes

1.25 litres (44 oz) chicken stock  (or vege. stock)

2 x 400g./14 oz tins of cannellini beans   see Notes

cannellini

cauliflower

Method:

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the mushrooms, and stir for a few minutes over medium-low heat

Stir in the tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, herbs, salt and pepper

Once the mushies are tender, take them out of the pan, and put aside

Now for the soup:

Heat up the oil in the saucepan, add the garlic and onion, and stir for a few minutes

Now add the chopped cauliflower and stock, and simmer till the cauli is tender - 25-30 minutes maybe?  Add some water here if it's too thick for your liking

In go the cannellini beans to heat up; simmer for a few minutes

When everything is cooked and tender, turn off the soup, and let it cool down for a few minutes till you grab your stick blender, and whizz away till as smooth as you like it

Add more salt and pepper if you please, throw on the mushies and some chopped parsley or chives if you fancy

Serve with some thick, buttered bread

I love me some butter!

Notes:

If you like pancetta, you sauté 12 slices in 1 Tbs EV olive oil (with some sage leaves) for the garnish

(I added some left-over zucchini to the soup too)

My cauliflower was about 815g./29 oz, and once stripped of the outer leaves, it came down to 620g./22 oz

Olivia's recipe uses dried beans.  She uses 200g./7 oz dried beans, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed, which she then adds to the saucepan with the sautéed garlic and onion, and 750 mL/26 oz of water.  This is then cooked for 30 minutes before adding the cauliflower and stock, and cooked for another 1.5 hours!  Nope, no can do!

ingredients gathered

tender, fragrant mushrooms

in goes the cauli!

simmer away

I must have blitzed it already ...

there might be some chicken in here :=)

I scribbled down 110g./4 oz cooked chicken on the bottom of my notes, so maybe I added some chicken to this soup ...

very tasty

Vanilla Cake Recipe

This is a recipe from the blog Preppy Kitchen, by John Kanell.  He actually calls it Vanilla Cake Recipe for some reason, so I will stick with that.  Mr P.'s birthday was coming up, and he loves vanilla cake, so this was perfect.  And I have to say, this is a fabulous cake, which Mr P. said was the best cake I'd ever made!  High praise indeed!  It went down well with the neighbours too.

This is a bit of a personal note here: Mr P. has a long term neurological disease plus the recent cancer diagnosis.  He is always chirpy, and still working hard.  He's a bit of a legend really!  Big thanks to everyone who has asked about him, and sent best wishes.  We really appreciate it.

sweet, fruity and vanilla deliciousness

Serves quite a few :=):

ingredients:

For the cake:

300g./2½ cups plain flour

2¼ tsp baking powder (such an odd amount!)

¾ tsp salt

170g./¾ cup butter, at room temp.

333g./1⅔ cups white sugar

3 large eggs, at room temp.

1 Tbs vanilla extract  (yes, you read that right!)

240 mL/1 cup buttermilk, at room temp.

yep, it's flour

I decided not to go with John's buttercream icing (600g. of icing sugar!!), but instead went with a white chocolate ganache from Emelia Jackson's new book: You had me at cake.  And then I made a Chantilly cream to go in the middle of the two layers.  And added heaps of fruit in the middle and on top!  

For the Chantilly cream:

200 mL/7 oz whipping/thickened cream

50g./2 oz icing sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

For the white chocolate ganache:

65 mL/2 oz whipping/thickened cream

165g./5¾ oz white chocolate, chopped

7g./⅓ oz butter, at room temp.

½ tsp vanilla extract

you can use vanilla paste or extract

For decoration: 

1 x punnet of raspberries and 1 punnet of blackberries (or your fave berries) to fill the middle and to decorate the top layer   see Notes

blackberries (but use your fave)

Method:

For the cake:

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Butter and flour two round cake tins - 20 cm/8 inch sized- and add a layer of baking paper to the bottoms

Grab a medium mixing bowl, and whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together

Now grab another mixing bowl, throw in the butter, and beat with an electric hand beater (or your stand mixer) till smooth

Then you add the sugar, and beat again on high till light and fluffy

You know what happens next - add the eggs one at a time, and beat them in, then in goes the vanilla, and beat it in briefly

Now on a low-speed, you beat in the flour in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk

And to finish off, you grab a spatula and give it all a good (but gentle) mix - don't go crazy!

Pour the batter into the two tins, and bake for around 30 minutes - stick a cake skewer into the centre and when it comes out clean - you are done :)

Let 'em cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then tip them out onto a cake rack, take off the baking paper and allow to cool completely

In the meantime, you are making the Chantilly cream and the ganache!

For the Chantilly cream:

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl, grab your beaters and beat till you have lovely soft peaks

Then add the icing sugar and vanilla, and beat them in, but not too frenziedly - just till combined nicely

For the ganache:

Cream goes into a small saucepan, and you bring it to a simmer (says Emelia)

Your white chocolate is in a heatproof bowl, so you tip the hot cream over it and let it melt the chocolate for a minute or two - then give it a good stir till combined

Add the butter and vanilla, and stir madly (or with a stick blender) till 'smooth and glossy'

Let it sit and cool for a bit, before spreading over your delicious cake

Throw on all the berries!

Notes:

Throw on as many berries (or your fave fruit) as you desire to the middle layer and the top of the cake!

gather your ingredients

beat the eggs into the creamed butter and sugar 

in goes the vanilla 

and the flour mixture and the buttermilk

into the cake tins for baking

and baked!

let 'em cool right down

find a lovely cake plate (our mate Brooke from Red Door Studio made this!)

slather on the Chantilly cream and throw on the berries

and on goes the top layer

you've poured over the ganache and thrown on the berries!

it didn't last long!

so good! (as a certain English cook says all the time!)

(A quick update re. Mr P.'s health - treatment is going well; two weeks down and three to go!)  And hopefully that will be it, at least for now.  Thanks again to all those who have sent their best wishes.)

In My Kitchen - May 2026

This is a quick post this month, friends.  I am writing this at the beginning of a big week ahead.  Mr P. starts his radiation treatment at the hospital, and there are many other things happening. The weather is finally getting cooler thankfully, after a very long and hot summer.  In fact, I am about to shut all the windows as it is freezing!  Well, for Queenslanders used to sunny and humid days, the current temp. of 20C is very bracing.  

I have to confess to being in a stinky mood lately, feeling stressed-out and tired and full of anxiety.  Mr P. is always very calm and collected and cheery, so I am taking up the slack for him - hehehe ...  Happily though I have been busy this past month with creative endeavours.  I have sent off three artworks to a couple of shows, and also three short stories to competitions.  Fingers crossed!  So not much cooking has been done, but I will get back to it.

   

just had to show you my new T-shirt from Bad Batch!

In My Kitchen:

bought these in a cute (but expensive) country homewares store

love me a bit of furikake

you guessed it!  another visit to the Japanese grocery store 

Japanese ice cream! That's a delicious wafer with green tea ice cream and red bean paste

goodies from the Asian store (not the Japanese one)

made a delicious citrus loaf! (Recipe from David's Spiced blog)

and there was chocolate slab cake

That's it for another month.  Hope to see you all for this month's IMK, my global and virtual friends!

Oops! Nearly forgot the curveball! Another vase by Nat from The Austin Flowers!

For those who don't know, Milo is a hugely popular malted chocolate drink, invented by a young Australian chemical engineer back in the 1930s!  Aussie kids still love it, and it's great on vanilla ice cream too.  Our mate Nat has added this vase to her fabulous, handmade collection!

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

Options for adding your post to IMK:

1. Add via the Add Link button at the bottom of this post.  Instructions can be found on the sidebar of this page, under the  Add your IMK link OR:

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3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any queries about the link process, or if you would like it to be added after the 13th ('cos I'm happy to add it for you later)

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Coconut Bircher Müesli

I have fond memories of our mum making Bircher müesli when we were kids.  We came from a meat and 3-veg. type of family, so this was very daring of her.  And dessert was usually just tinned fruit and bought vanilla ice cream.  She also bought orange juice (with pulp!), and made chow mein (beef mince and lots of cabbage) in her electric frypan.  What a kitchen whizz! Or is that wiz? - short for wizard ...

This is another recipe from Donna Hay's cookbook Sunshine, lemons and sea salt.  It took me quite a few years to enjoy Donna's books and recipes; not sure why, but I think due to using them for Cookbook Clubs, I have started to really get with the program, so to speak.  

I often make bircher müesli, usually in Summer, but this one with coconut milk is a first for me.  And delicious it is!  Of course, Bircher should be said with a hard 'c' sound, rather than the 'ch' sound we have all been saying for years.  It's kind of fun rolling the 'r', and the 'ch', I have to say :=)  Go with your fave kind of milk, my friends, though.  And whatever fruits, and so on you prefer.  

Day 1 - looking fabulous

Serves 4:

ingredients:

2 cups (180g.) rolled oats (not instant)

2 Tbs (or less!) of white chia seeds

1.5 cups (375 mL) coconut milk

1.5 cups (375 mL) coconut water

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbs maple syrup

1/2 cup (125g.) coconut yoghurt

Serve with: toasted coconut flakes (see Notes), more coconut yoghurt, fruit of your choice and honey (I think honey is optional)

Method:

Place the oats, chia seeds, coconut milk and water, vanilla and maple syrup into a large bowl, and give it a good stir

Then pour this into an airtight container, and into the fridge it goes overnight (or for a few hours if you are very hungry)

The next morning, you open it up and gaze on the chia-ed thickness with wonder, before you toast the coconut flakes by placing them into a small, cast-iron frypan and swirling them around for a few minutes till they go golden-brown and fragrant

Then fold the yoghurt through the müesli, and top with the coconut flakes, fruit and honey (if using)

Will last for several days in the fridge!

coconut!

Notes:

I had to use some almond milk too, as I couldn't find coconut water at the supermarket (I added a teensy amount of coconut essence to bump up the flavour)

And slightly less chia seeds for me - just not a fan of that mmm kinda slimy texture

yep, oats!

and maple syrup

ingredients gathered

that's the vanilla!

give it a stir

ready for an overnight stay in the fridge

toast your flakes, friends!

I think this might be pretty AND good for you :=)

this is Day 3! (Hubby doesn't eat it)

Day 5!  Nearly done; one more day to go