Saturday, December 3, 2011

RECIPE: Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

This simple roasted root vegetable soup is works well with just about any combination of root vegetables such as turnips, celeraic, potatoes, carrots, rutabagas or parsnips. I'm not a huge fan of turnips or celeraic, so when we got both of these in our co-op share one week, I decided making soup would be the best way to use them up. Since turnips and celeraic have a strong flavor, potatoes would mellow the flavor and onions and garlic would sweeten it up a bit. I happened to have two lonely carrots left, and decided to use them in the soup too. Finally, I opted to roast the vegetables instead of boiling them so that the soup would have a more carmelized flavor.

I hope you give this recipe a try--it's really easy and very tasty!


Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

1 celearic [celery root]
2 turnips
4 potatoes [I used two red and two yellow]
2 carrots
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
sprigs of fresh thyme [or 2 teaspoons of dried thyme]

1. Peel vegetables, cut into similar sized chunks and place in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried thyme, if using, until vegetables are evenly coated.

2. Place vegetables on cookie sheets in a single layer and top each cookie sheet with a few sprigs of the fresh thyme. Don't over-crowd the vegetables. It's better to use additional cookie sheets.

3. Roast vegetables in a 375 F oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until vegetables pierce easily with a fork, tossing every 20 minutes or so. Remove from oven and let cool.

4. Working in batches, place roasted vegetables in food processor, scraping any olive oil and roasted bits of vegetables from the cookie sheets--there's a lot of flavor there! Add about 3 cups of water for every 4-5 cups of vegetables. Purée until smooth and pour into a large sauce pan.

5. When all of the vegetables are puréed, cook over medium-low heat until heated through, adding additional water if necessary until soup is desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper, and add accordingly. Keep in mind that this soup is prepared with water and not broth, so don't be alarmed by how much salt you may need to add.

6. Serve warm, garnish with fresh thyme leaves, if desired. Chopped chives would work, too.

Enjoy!



This post is my contribution to Weekend Cooking, a weekly blog event hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food related post to share--a food related book review (fiction or nonfiction), cookbook review, movie review, a recipe, random thoughts, gadgets, food quotations, photographs, etc. Please visit Beth's blog for more information and join the fun! 

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this! In my vegetable bag I often get veggies where I have no clue what to do with, and this will help!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I adore root veggies of all kinds and often make soup with them. I like this idea of roasting the vegetables first for extra flavor. I'm definitely going to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum! I've made soup from my miscellaneous CSA veggies, but roasting them really brings out the flavor (and usually sweetens them a bit). I'm with you - not a big fan of turnips :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love roasted root veggies, so I'm sure I would love this soup. I've only used celeriac once before and, as you say, found it somewhat overpowering.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This sounds yummy! We love soup in our home, hubby lovingly calls me the soup nazi! TFS

    Paula

    ReplyDelete
  6. We're more of a stew family, but may have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds so warming and good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This sounds like a perfect meal for my menu plans this week. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great idea to make soup from the roasted vegetables. Great flavors, looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh yumm...You make the most delicious looking food. :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you all for the lovely comments on my Roasted Root Vegetable Soup recipe! I hope you get to try it--and if you do, I'd love to hear how it turned out. :)

    Paula--LOL! The Soup Nazi has got to be the best Seinfeld episode ever! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This looks gorgeous. I'm always looking for ways to use celeraic. I agree, roasting the vegetables first really adds depth to the flavour. I'm lucky enough to have lemon thyme growing in my backyard, so I'll be adding that.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've not tried roasting the veggies first. Great idea. My post this week is about soup as well. I am collecting recipes for my father, I hope you'll visit and add your recipe post to Mr. Linky.

    http://www.heatherpearson.com/2011/12/receip-thursday-great-soup-recipe-hunt.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. This sounds absolutely delicious! I have to admit that I've never tried a rutabaga and am not even sure what one is. I picked up a baby food book to make my daughter some fresh food and a lot of the recipes call for rutabaga!

    though not sure I'm familiar with celeraic either. Off to research!

    ReplyDelete
  15. roasting the veg before making soup is a really good idea, actually! I have loads of pumpkin this week so I think I'll try this!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey Christine,

    That sounds yummy! Love soups in the winter time.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Susan, I love lemon thyme! I used to have some growing in my garden, too, but it didn't make it through a particularly tough winter one year. I think it would be a superb addition to this soup!

    Hi Heather! I already linked up two of my posted soup recipes in your Mr. Linky the other day. I saw the sweet comment from your mom on your blog today. : )

    Trish, a rutabaga is a waxy root vegetable that sort of looks like a turnip, but tastes more similar to a potato. It's a shame it doesn't get more attention!

    I made all of my daughters' baby food when they were little. It's so incredibly easy and is such a common sense way of transitioning baby from milk to real people food! ; )

    joanna, great idea!

    Amy, I love soup in the winter, too. I refuse to eat soup May through August. LOL!

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment! I love to hear what YOU think.
[I apologize, but I've had to disallow anonymous users to comment on my blog due to an influx of spam. I'll change it back as soon as I can. Thanks for understanding.]