When it comes to buttermilk, I'm a convert. However, I never used to be like that. Whenever I'd see buttermilk in a recipe, I'd always sub in yogurt or add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to my milk to give it the requisite tang. It's not that I had a hate-on for the stuff, it was that I didn't want a huge carton of buttermilk hanging around in my fridge taking up space. But then I discovered the joy of making ranch dressing from scratch and decided that buttermilk was something that I could make room for.I began using buttermilk in all the standard recipes like pancakes and biscuits and would even add it in my cakes if the recipe called for milk. I became a fan of the slightly sour tang that it lent to baked goods and salad dressings. So when I was making a pot of cauliflower soup and spotted a half empty carton of buttermilk, I decided to throw caution to the wind and poured it into my soup instead of milk. The results were fantastic. Creamy, tangy and comfort in one bowlful. The buttermilk really punched up the flavour and made this soup sing.
And just in case you are wondering if buttermilk is fattening? It's not. Real buttermilk is the milk leftover from the butter-making process, so most of the fat has already been removed. However, finding this real buttermilk is difficult (unless you buy directly from a farm or a small dairy). On store shelves you'll find buttermilk that has been cultured from low-fat milk.Cauliflower Buttermilk Soup
1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 t salt
4 c water or stock
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 c parmesan cheese
large pinch of dried dill weed
1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
salt & pepper
Place the cauliflower, potatoes, onion and garlic into a large pot. Add in water or vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer (no lid needed) until vegetables are quite tender (about 30 minutes). Puree with a hand blender or transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.
Add in the buttermilk, Parmesan, dill and mustard and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve in deep bowls. This should make about 4 large servings.
