I started Nutritionista’s Season of Soup challenge with my White Bean and Roasted Garlic Peasant Soup with Sauteed Apples. I believe the lovely Nutritionista is half-way through her challenge and I am serving up my second offering. Better late then never, right? :D
Yesterday, I also received my second delivery from Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks - and a farmer’s market of produce arrived at my door. I got two bags of veggies and fruits as big as me and at the bottom of the veggie bag was this surprise: a collection of “baby” root vegetables for a soup mix!
You can make your own soup mix and keep a bag in the fridge for your next Sunday soup: red, yellow, and purple carrots, purple top or sweet scarlet turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, celeriac, and sunchokes.
Who says you can’t eat a rainbow in winter?
You might think, “Holy Veggie Cheeseburgers, what is that thing? It looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie.” Do not fear tentacle monster vegetable - it’s baby size so it won’t hurt you. :D
You can make your soup mix from larger vegetables - but the baby sizes are easier to prep (and some say taste sweeter). I wiped the veggies down with a damp paper towel, chopped off the heads and legs, and used the peeler a couple of times but mostly to get off the extra roots.
Cut up the veggies and toss with olive oil spray and sea salt and roast in a 400 degree oven until slightly golden brown. I use two pinches of sea salt - very little because I like seasoning every step - easiest way to prevent over-salting, tastes yummier, and to become as hot as Giada.
While the root veggies are roasting prepare your mirepoix: some stalks of celery, one small carrot, one small onion, and for this dish, eight cloves of garlic. Cook down in a soup pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and a half-tablespoon of butter.
(I saw my hero Martha Stewart once make a soup with olive oil and butter in the mirepoix but she never explained why. I decided to try it but I reduced my portions because I prefer less fat).
Once the mirepoix cooks down, and your roasted veggies have some color on them, add them to the pot along with six cups of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and chop up five or six sage leaves and add to the mix!
I rough chopped the veggies because I initially planned on blending it - however, I used the back of a flat spoon and just smushed the bigger pieces. I like seeing my ingredients and prefer bites of veggies to blended soups.
If you are feeling like a “cream soup,” let the soup cool, add one cup of non-fat milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk of your choice and blend. NEVER BLEND HOT SOUPS. The blender will pop its top, the hot liquid will go everywhere, including your face, and it will burn you. I did this once and it was awful.
I enjoyed a lovely bowl of this soup for dinner and finished another bowl for breakfast. The soup is different from anything I’ve ever made - the roasted root vegetables are golden sweet, the broth has notes of sage butter, and it pairs well with pumpernickel bread. Make pumpernickel chips by cutting the bread into 1 inch small slices, spray with olive oil, and toast in a 425 degree oven. If it’s date night, pair with one of these lovely wines. ;D
Happy soupin’ people!
