Vocabulary Word of the Day: Unctuous

I admit it:  I got a special joy this week from serving my children food originally created by Thomas Keller.  It made me feel like I was expanding their boundaries in new ways - even if I was really only making soup and meatballs.

Wednesday night it was Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Torn Croutons and Red Beet Chips and, as it turned out, more kale salad (yay!). Technically I started making this dinner on Tuesday after we'd eaten and we were watching the most inspirational show on TV.  Tom's first word to describe this soup is unctuous - and is he ever right.  Unctuous is one of those words that doesn't have a particularly positive definition and yet, especially when it describes food, has a distinctly positive connotation: rich, creamy, velvety, full.

I confess, I tried to make the parchment lid, failed, and gave up.  I'm fairly sure that placing the lid ajar on top of the pot while cooking the cauliflower florets, onions, and leeks with just a smidgeon of curry powder, achieved a similar result.  And while I do not own a Vita Mix in which to puree my soup to a "smooth and velvety texture", I am happy to say that, after adding sick amounts of milk and heavy cream and simmering for another 30 minutes, my old KitchenAid blender did just the trick!  The soup was thick, creamy and, frankly, had somehow less to do with the flavor of cauliflower than just being rich and comforting - one of those soups on the menu that make you wonder what else is going on in there.

The real fun came on Wednesday with a little mid-week mandoline action, and frying hand-torn pieces of bread from an Acme rustic Italian loaf in the garlic confit oil and a little butter:

Transforming my hands into beet-pink appendages and red beets into crispy little chips that my son said I should package and sell:

And creating a meal that not only tasted fantastic and was spot-on in its seasoning, but even managed to fairly closely resemble the picture in the book! I was so pleased with the outcome that even I got a chuckle from Natalie's announcement that she could have done without the "olive oil sperm" in her soup.