Smoked salmon and cauliflower chowder

A cosy winter soup that uses up the sort of things that tend to accumulate in my fridge.

You may need more liquid than I've quoted - you can use extra milk, stock or just water, obviously.

• 50-75g unsalted butter
• 1 onion
• 1 little garlic man (don't go crazy!)
• 1 cauliflower (or romesco) split into small, bitesized florets
• 1 large potato
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• small stick of celery (or a pinch of ground fennel seed will do - it's what I did last time)
• 1-2 tsp of ground coriander seed
• a good fistful or two of smoked salmon trimmings
• heaped dessertspoon of plain flour
• pint of milk
• pint of homemade, unsalted stock (vege or fish) or half strength instant stock
• pepper

Chop onion, celery, garlic and carrot very finely and soften low-medium for 5-10 mins in plenty of butter. Chop the potato into bitesized pieces and add that. Continue to fry for a minute or two - the potato will start to cook at the edges, and may stick a bit - don't worry.

Add the flour and cook the whole lot (dry) for a couple of minutes as if you were making a roux (you are!).

Take off the heat and pour in the stock slowly, stirring so it all mixes well, then add the milk. Bring to the boil but not too hard, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to disolve the stuck bits. Add enough salt so it's just a little underseasoned (the salmon is salty) and some pepp. Also add the pinch of fennel seed, if using.

Simmer for a minute or two, then add the cauliflower and continue to simmer till it's tender enough for you. It's a soup, so you don't want it as crunchy as if you were eating it on its own.

Now, what I did was take my hand blender, and sort of whizz up about half of the soup, so leaving lots of nice chunky cauli and potato, but also giving it a good thick texture.

Then dump in the salmon and the ground coriander and break up the salmon as it cooks with a spoon. Leave it for long enough that you feel the flavour of the salmon has got into the soup and adjust the seasoning, etc.

I just served with a little cream dribbled in, and some extra black pepper. Don't put any fresh coriander on - it's not the right flavour.

Enjoy!