This Here's Soup Weather

I don't know about where you're from, but here in the Windy City it's cold and wet. And windy. All kinds of general unpleasant-ness. Bundle up all you like, the cold and wet will still find its way right on through your layers to your bones. Really the only way to combat this kind of weather is soup. But I’m not too much of a soup fan, really. Very select soups please my picky palate (I’m such a snob). But when I saw this on Tastespotting, I was in love.
Too bad I don’t have a crock-pot. Or space for a crock-pot.


Or money for a crock-pot...

The solution, in these cases where I don’t have a particular tool or ingredient, is usually to improvise.

I do have an immersion blender.

I went to roasted vegetables.

They’re so easy- preheat your oven to 450, toss some washed and cut veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper, then chuck them (gently) in the oven until they’re browned and soft, which, depending on the veggie, could be anywhere from 15-40 minutes. Smaller pieces roast faster, generally. My personal favorite roasted veggies are carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, and the all-time favorite root veggie, sweet potatoes.

So since roasting generally makes everything better- even brussels sprouts, honest!- I decided that I’d make a roasted root vegetable soup. I’m not a licensed soup-maker (if such a thing exists) so this is me being an Inventive Chef.
It came out pretty well, but maybe a bit too sweet. The recipe below is one I made up, and then adjusted- we like a lot of salt. It’s a little silly.



Root Vegetable Soup
Serves 3-6 people (depending on bowl size)


Food You’ll Need:

2 sweet potatoes or yams, washed and chopped (but not necessarily peeled)
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and chopped (but ditto about the peeling)
3-4 large carrots, washed and chopped (do people peel carrots?)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to coat the veggies
1 cup (more or less) chicken stock
2-3 cups milk or cream
Herbs de Provence (which in my case is thyme, rosemary, savory, marjoram, basil and sage. You can usually by it already mixed together)
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste
Bacon, chives, cheddar, to garnish (optional)

Tools You’ll Need:

An oven (if you don’t have that, go to a restaurant and stop reading this)

A roasting pan or cast-iron skillet

A stock pot

A blender, immersion or otherwise

Various spoons and utensils

How To:

-Pre-heat your oven to 450F
-Toss the veggies with olive oil until they’re lightly coated, and throw them into a roasting pan or a cast-iron skillet, and pop them in the oven until browned and tender, around 40 minutes

-Just before the veggies are done, in your stock pot add chicken stock and milk or cream. Start to simmer gently

- Remove the veggies from the oven, and with a slotted spoon or spatula, put the veg gently into the pot. Add Herbs de Provence and salt and pepper, bring to a low boil, stirring often.

-Reduce heat and let simmer until the milk/chicken stock starts to pick up the color of the vegetables and the veggies sort of fall apart with gentle prodding. Shouldn’t take too long, especially if they’ve been roasted thoroughly. Remove from heat.
-Use your immersion blender (or put the soup mixer gently into your blender) and blend until smooth. Taste it! Add more salt or pepper, to taste (I suppose chili powder or hot sauce might be tasty too, but I have a bland, German palate and hot sauce is not my scene)

-Serve with crumbled bacon, chopped chives and cheddar on top

Warm food, warm belly!

Happy munching