Creamy Tomato-Basil & Cauliflower Soup

Back in Hong Kong, and back onto Housewife Training :P

Previously "making soup" has consisted of me decanting Woolies store-bought into a bowl and microwaving it... but with the serious thunderstorms on the go here (and after some major Pinteresting ) I thought I'd put on my big girl panties and make a soup from scratch. Eek. Not really though, since it's actually ridiculously easy.

I went with the "Creamy Tomato-Basil & Cauliflower" recipe I found via Pinterest from a blog called iheartnaptime.net - very cool site. They made it for Halloween and added "spider-webs". 

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a head of cauliflower, chopped
• 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 32 oz chicken stock
• 1 cup greek yogurt (or cream if you're being naughty)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped basil
• 5 oz shredded asiago cheese (I couldn't find, and used Parmesan)
• Reduced fat sour cream (if you want the spiderwebs)

Instructions

1. 1. In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add onions and garlic and saute 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
2. 2. Add chopped cauliflower and saute another 2-3 minutes. Add chicken stock (should cover cauliflower). Let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
3. 3. Add cans of diced tomatoes, chopped basil basil, and greek yogurt. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
4. 4. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until creamy and there are no lumps. (You can also pour the soup into a blender in two batches, and blend until smooth. Then pour back into the pot.)
5. 5. Once blended add 5 ounces asiago cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes, stir to combine melted cheese.
6. 
   
7. For the spider webs
8. Fill a plastic bag or piping bag, or a squeezable bottle, with the sour cream. Place a dot of sour cream in the center of the bowl of soup. Then create two or three circles around the center dot. Using a knife or toothpick start from the center dot of sour cream and drag it to the outer circle of sour cream. Do this all the way around the center dot, creating a web.

(This is apparently what the spiderwebs should look like according to iheartnaptime.net )