Soup recipes are awesome because it's hard to screw them up. Cut veggies, cover with stock, simmer and season. Perfecting a soup does take a few tries, but because my family loves cauliflower soup my perfect version has become lazier and lazier. I am down to two ingredients (not counting salt and pepper): cauliflower and chicken stock. The end result is still seriously delicious – flavourful, complex and perfect with a sandwich or crusty bread – yet I can still say it is homemade. Sure, you can sauté onions, roast the cauliflower or add potatoes, but I'll certainly be back to my novel before you, feeling liked I've pulled off a little kitchen magic.

You can play this by ear – if you have a larger cauliflower just add enough stock to cover the vegetables in the pot.