Marxism, mmmm spicy.

When I was volunteering in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina hit, I met this guy Jeff, perhaps the biggest anarchist I ever met. Jeff had this theory that any unnatural societal order was unnecessary. He felt that people would fall into the roles they were best suited for naturally, without having to rely on a government or leader to place them there. While Jeff's theories were often outlandish this one was particularly salient. After two days of gutting houses I was starting to get fed up with the sub par meals, provided for the volunteers, coming out of the makeshift kitchen. On the third day, I went into the kitchen and let the staff know that I had some culinary experience and I would like to lend a hand. As it turned out, most of the people working in the kitchen had little if any cooking experience so they bolted the kitchen to get back to gutting houses. Jeff, it seems, was right.

Left in the kitchen was myself, one assistant and a surprisingly well stocked kitchen, with most of the equipment provided by locals who survived the storm and volunteers. We had 4 industrial sized burners, a refrigerator and a giant steel drum barbecue, but no ovens. Most of the raw ingredients were provided by other relief organizations and local vendors who just wanted to lend a hand. For instance, after gutting one crawfish fisherman's house, he brought about 200 lbs. of crawfish to our site as a thank you. But more often then not we were dealing with produce that was about to turn and that needed to be used immediately. For some reason we always had way too much cauliflower. We would cook it up as hash-browns for breakfast, blend it into beans for stew and so on. But as it it turns out, cauliflower doesn't taste like much. What it does have going for it is that when blended it takes on an incredibly creamy consistency. Which is great in soup and one of these days I'm putting it in ice cream. So here is a recipe we came up with for the volunteers. I've scaled it down from army-of-hungry-volunteers proportions.

Curried Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

1 cauliflower, cut into small pieces
1 sweet potato, cut into 1/2'' cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp chili powder or cayenne pepper
1 15 oz. can of chicken broth
1 cup of milk
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

For this recipe do not worry too much about the cut of the vegetables because they are going to get buzzed in the blender. Place a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and garlic and saute until tender, 3-4 mins. When soft add the cauliflower, sweet potato and stir in the curry powder and chili powder. When the vegetables are coated add the broth and milk. Simmer over medium heat for 12 mins. Add the soup to a blender and buzz until smooth. That's it. The sweet potato is a nice addition because it adds a pleasant orange color and the natural sweetness offset the spice.