Athlete's Cookbook - Athlete Recipes

Cauliflower Soup

Key Features

Very easy to make
Variable carbohydrate
Very low fat
Great winter warmer
Excellent winter recovery snack

This soup is a delicious meal my mum used to make quite often when I was living at home. I don't make it too often, but when winter arrives its the kind of meal that warms you to the soul. It is super easy to make in one pot, and doesn't require any fancy ingredients. Soup is never that attractive as a dish, but the smell and the taste really gets me excited. My mum has an Italian background, so there may be a basis of Italian or Mediterranean style to this recipe, but certainly with an Aussie twist. This is also a handy meal to cook and freeze the leftovers. If you eat it as an entree, there will be plenty of leftovers for another day.

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 2-3 hungry athletes for main or 4 for entree)

1/2 head of cauliflower
1 – 3 potatoes
1 brown onion, finely diced
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 litre of veggie or chicken stock
1/2 tsp celery seeds (optional)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
ground black pepper to taste
fresh flat leaf parsley

This meal is a fabulous winter warmer. It can be made with variable carbohydrate content, depending on your energy needs as an athlete. If you are having a light week, reduce the potato quantity to 1, whereas if you are in a heavy training phase, boost up the carb levels by using 3 medium sized potatoes and serving the soup with some yummy crusty bread. Soups can be quite filling due to the liquid content, therefore making it a challenge to reach your required carbohydrate content in one meal. If you find this the case, then have the soup as an entree and follow it up with a main meal to help increase carbohydrate, as well as increase protein content which is minimal in this dish. If you are aiming for weight loss, this could be a very low calorie meal by using no potato at all. However there is also low protein, so maybe include an egg or some meat with the meal to help with satiety. Soup can also be really useful as a post exercise recovery snack in winter. It has carbs, plenty of fluids for rehydration and sodium for replenishing electrolytes.

Method

Chop the cauliflower into small florets (don't discard the stems)
Peel and chop the potatoes into large cubes
Fry up the onion and garlic in a splash of oil until opaque
Add the cauli florets, stems and potato pieces to the pot and stir fry for a few minutes
Pour the stock into the pot and make sure there is enough stock to cover all the vegetables
Add the celery seeds
Bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce the temperature and simmer for about 1 hour (This will depend on how large the chunks of vegetables are)
When the vegetables are nice and tender, turn off the pot, and allow to cool slightly
Use a hand blender (or a bench top blender) and wizz the ingredients till smooth
Add the grated cheese, turn the stove top back on, and heat through while stirring to melt the cheese
Add black pepper
Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve

Methodology Tips:

I find a hand blender easier, as you don't even have to take the soup out of the pot, just blend in the cooking pot. Using a bench top blender requires the soup to be a lot cooler before blending otherwise you need to be extra careful because soup will burn if it spills while too hot. Also depending on the size of your blender, you may need to do it in batches which also becomes tricky.

Celery seeds can add great flavours to a soup, but it may not be something you have in your cupboard. As an alternative you could use fresh celery chopped up and added to the soup pot which will have a similar effect to deepen the flavour base.