I made this a little off the cuff, so I hope I can recall how this rolled out haha

Recipe:

• A whole large leek, chopped into small bits.

• Leek Prep Technique: peel off a one or two outside layers of the leek, and chop off some of the gnarly expose green ends. Then, cut into the leek near the base (don't cut through the root-end, keep that intact, much easier for chopping) - and cut down through the whole leek; rotate and repeat. You'll have 4 dangly quarters attached to the root! This allows you to wash the interior extremities of the leek of some of the trapped soil and dirt is there 99% of the time. After a careful rinsing, shake off the excess water gently, and proceed to chop the leeks.

• 2/3 of a head of cauliflower - keep the florets as large as possible!!

• 3 medium-large yellow potatoes - dice them into 3/4" cubes-ish

• Get a large soup pot up to "just-medium" heat (4/10 on a stovetop)

• Drop in about 3 tables spoons of olive oil, let it heat up a bit but don't let it smoke.

• Drop in the chopped leeks

• Season the leeks as they fry - a decent pinch of salt, and some fresh ground black pepper. Note: there's no stock or broth in this recipe.

• After 3 minutes of frying the leeks, add the diced potatoes and mix them together.

• Within 2-3 minutes, the leeks are softening up, the potatoes are starchy and grabbing at things.

• Add a good knob of butter and about 1/2 of cup of white dry vermouth to help things from sticking.

• Once the alcohol has steamed off, sprinkle in about a table spoon of flour and stir actively to avoid any burning and sticking - turn down the heat if you think it's a little too hot.

• Add in about 2/3 of a cup of milk and continue stirring actively to get the roux going.

• Add in the cauliflower florets

• Add in water a little at a time to thin out the roux

• Continue adding water until the cauliflower is covered.

• Add in a healthy pinch of thyme.

• I added more salt here and there. I also used some raw MSG I have on hand, but you can use a variety of things to satisfy an umami dimension here. I think even Asian fish sauce could work. Otherwise, you can top the soup with fried bacon bits or crispy roasted mushroom bits to that bang. I honestly cheaped out lol.

• Get to simmering boil, and reduce to very low heat, and let it cook off for about 10-15 minutes or so - check regularly after 10 minutes.

• Once the cauliflower and potatoes are tender, get a hand blender, and drop it directly into the bottom of the pot. The aim is to preserve the florets and chunks of potato. We want those intact!. It should be easy enough because we kept those pieces large enough. So, the focus is to blend the leek, and only a few pieces of potato and cauliflower. So, don't blend aggressively by travelling the mixer blade into the open soup - that will just turn the soup into a indistinct mush! No bueno!

• For the cheese, I suggest grated cheddar. I seasoned my cheese with some salt, ground pepper, smoked paprika, and some oregano.

• Garnish with a little fresh parsley.

• As mentioned above, you can top the soup with fried bacon bits or crispy roasted mushroom bits for that extra flavour dimension.

I think this made enough to serve roughly 4 people.

The end product is not amazingly rich. It's light, and the lack of broth or stock helps with just let the ingredients speak "simply". It's like how in Indian cooking, sometimes water helps transmit a flavour more clearly than if it's hidden in a fat or part of a stock.