Asiago Cauliflower and Quinoa Chowder

Soups are one of my favourite meals and with the weather cooling they are in season again! I thought I would kick off soup season by sharing my current favourite, this tasty asiago cauliflower chowder! Cauliflower is a fabulous ingredient in soups either pureed or in chunks and its pretty healthy, especially when combined with plenty of other veggies along with chickpeas and quinoa! A lot of the flavour from comes from the asiago cheese which is a flavourful hard cheese that melts right into the soup infusing it with pure flavour. One of the best things about this soup is that it takes less than 30 minutes to make, making it perfect for busy work night meals and you can easily make a double batch and bring the leftovers into work for lunch the next day! This asiago cauliflower chowder is the perfect soup for enjoying these cooler fall days!

I like to add bacon! I start by cooking the bacon in the pan and then I use the bacon grease to cook the veggies in instead of butter or oil. Yum!

Asiago Cauliflower and Quinoa Chowder

Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:20 minutes Total Time:30 minutes Servings: 6

A quick, easy, healthy and tasty cauliflower, quinoa and chickpea chowder that is just packed with flavour!

ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
1/4 cup flour
4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup quinoa
1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained
2 bay leaves
1 cup cream or milk
1/2 cup asiago, grated
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

directions

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, add the onions, carrots and celery and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.
Mix in the garlic, thyme and flour and cook until the flour is lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes.
Slowly stir in the broth, deglazing the pan as you go, add the cauliflower, quinoa, chickpeas and bay leaves, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the cauliflower is tender and the quinoa is cooked, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the cream and asiago, cook until the cheese has melted, season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste, remove the bay leaves, remove from the heat and enjoy.

Option: Add 1-2 tablespoons white miso paste by taking some of the hot broth and mixing it into the miso in a bowl and then mixing it back into the chowder as you remove it from the heat. (The miso adds a nice umami flavour!) Note: miso is salty so you will not need to season with as much salt.
Option: Top with crumbled bacon!