Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Wash the parsley and set it aside to dry – you can’t chop wet/damp parsley successfully.

Peel the onion and cut it in half from stem to root. Slice each onion half into thin slices. Gently warm3-4 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the sliced onions to the pot along with a pinch or two of kosher salt. Stir to coat well. Turn the heat to low, tightly cover the pot and cook the onions for 8-10 minutes or until softened and translucent. Add the sliced garlic cloves. Stir often. Do not brown the onions and garlic. Turn off the heat.

Prepare the cauliflower.

Turn the cauliflower, stem up on the cutting board. Pull off the leaves and using a long-ish paring knife, make 4 cuts around the core. Make the four cuts in the shape of a square around the core. You should then be able to twist out the core. Remove and discard the core. Now start breaking the flowerets apart into 2-to-3-inch pieces. Use your paring knife to trim away any remaining core and leaves from each piece; you mostly want all floweret pieces. Rinse the cauliflower in a colander and shake off excess water.

Add 2 to 3 more tablespoons of oil to the pot of cooked onions and garlic. Add the trimmed cauliflower pieces along with a couple more pinches of kosher salt. Stir well to combine. Turn heat to medium to combine everything, then reduce heat to low and cover the pan again. Let the vegetables cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often. The cauliflower will naturally turn to a light mushroom color and smell earthy and delicious. (I promise!) Keep stirring and cooking until everything is very soft and broken down.

Remove cover. Add 1 cup of water to the pot, to deglaze and scrape up any solids from the bottom of the pot. When water has almost evaporated, add 4 cups of almond milk and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for another 30 minutes or so. If soup seems very thick, add more water, but just 1⁄2 cup at a time. When finished, remove from heat and let cool.

Puree the cooled soup in a blender or use an immersion blender to create a smooth texture. I don’t like really THICK pureed soups so I added a bit more water to the blender as I was pureeing it. Remember to just add a little liquid at a time. Taste and season. Clean the cooking pot and return pureed soup to the pot to reheat when it’s time to serve.

Prepare the almond-harissa drizzle.

Toast the almonds by spreading them out on a sheet pan in a single layer. Toast in the oven for 8-12 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove sheet pan and let cool.

When the nuts are cool to the touch, roughly chop them on a cutting board. Add to a medium bowl. Chop the parsley and measure about 1/3 cup into the bowl with the almonds. (Save any extra parsley for another dish or use in scrambled eggs—very French!)

Add a small pinch of salt to the nuts and parsley and toss to combine.

In a separate bowl, measure 2 tablespoons of honey and add 2 tablespoons of hot water to thin out the honey. (Amount of water to be added will depend on the thickness of the honey.) Add a bit of freshly grated lemon peel and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Add the harissa paste or crushed hot red pepper flakes if using. Combine all the ingredients together; the nuts, parsley, and honey-water-harissa mix. Stir well to combine. Add a pinch of kosher salt to taste.

To serve:

Portion hot soup into warmed bowls. Drizzle the top of each bowl with a dollop of the almond-harissa

mixture. Serve immediately.