Roasted Cauliflower Soup

This recipe is adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe; I opted to leave out the cheese and just garnish a couple of baguette slices with melted cheddar cheese. The soup is delicious with or without the croutons. You can use heavy cream in place of milk if you want to take it over the top, but the cauliflower itself lends a very creamy taste and texture so I don't think it's necessary to add the extra calories or fat. But hey... I don't judge!

1 head cauliflower, cut into small pieces
4 cloves of garlic
4 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T parmesan cheese

1 T butter
1 T EVOO
1/2 small onion, diced
pinch of thyme
4-5 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
1-2 T sherry
1/2 milk
salt and white pepper to taste
baguette slices
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425º; toss the cauliflower and garlic with the 4 T EVOO, generously salt and pepper the florets and roast for 35 minutes; toss the cauliflower with 2 T parmesan and roast another 10 minutes.
2. Melt butter and EVOO in a pot over medium heat and saute onion along with a pinch of thyme until soft, about 6 or 7 minutes. Add 4 cups of the chicken broth, cauliflower/garlic, salt and white pepper to taste (I added 1 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t white pepper) and the sherry.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, add the milk and then puree the soup either in the blender or with a hand-held immersion blender. Add the milk and adjust seasonings; add more chicken broth if needed to thin out the soup.
3. Broil the baguette slices on one side; turn over and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Broil until bubbly and float on top of the soup.