Sweet roasted root vegetable soup
I think I have finally been cooking food from scratch long enough to begin to trust myself. I found this recipe for root vegetable soup that called for two of almost everything. Maybe there are baby turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips where you are but not at my markets. Two each of very hefty root vegetables would have made enough soup for many more people than the 6-8 touted. I peeled and diced them all and froze about 2/3 of them to figure out how to use another day. This took a lot of time. Peeling a celery root isn't like peeling an apple. But it was all worth it.
Ask for help from other family members. This soup is complex, sweet and savory and perfect for a rainy winter night. For a variation on what I had read, I also roasted the diced veggies until some of them caramelized. The soup could be made without this step but I think it was a very good move. You can also use any combination of root veggies you choose. There is no right way in cooking. This soup is amazing.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 parsnip, peeled and diced
- 1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
- 1 turnip, peeled and diced
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
- 1 celery root, peeled and diced
- 1 fennel bulb, green parts removed, cored, and roughly chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick
- About 6 cups vegetable stock
- Red wine vinegar to taste
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Spread out the parsnip, rutabaga, turnip, sweet potato, celery root, and fennel on a baking sheet or pan with sides. If it looks like too many veggies for six people, save some of the diced veggies. There’s no way to buy just 2/3 of a parsnip. You could also use all the vegetables and add more stock.
- Roast for 20-30 minutes or until some of the veggies darken.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot and cook the shallots and ginger until the shallots are soft.
- Add the rest of the roasted vegetables and the cinnamon stick.
- Add enough stock to cover the veggies. You can always add a little water if needed.
- Bring to a boil. Cover and then simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Find the cinnamon stick and remove it.
- Use a handheld blender or regular blender to puree some of the soup leaving chunks. Don’t forget to remove the center part of the lid on a regular blender so the steam can escape and you don’t blow the lid off.
- “Season” with red wine vinegar.
- Gradually add salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Calories: 155
- Total fat: 4 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Trans fat: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 161 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 25 g
- Dietary fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 8 g