Roasted Vegetable Soup

Saturday, September 20, 2008

You haven't seen many of my food posts lately because I totally lost my cooking mojo for a while. I think it ran off with Austen Powers. Seriously, I couldn't cook. I couldn't follow a recipe, much less make one up. I had no idea what I should eat for dinner so it became chips & salsa or apples. I was seriously stressed about the lack of any interest in cooking and the less I cooked the more worried I became. Jess was getting equally concerned because my lack of mojo means she has to fend for herself. Then last week something clicked. The world shifted back on its axis. The blurriness came into focus. I felt the cooking section of my soul settle back into its proper place, jockying for position slowly but deeply.

I started off with simple foods. Pastas, specialty sandwiches, stir frys. Delicious and almost impossible to screw up. Today I decided that I was ready for more. The Farm had provided us with an absolute bounty of carrots, much more than we could possibly eat in a week. I decided that I had to make something with them and ended up using a bunch of our produce from this week's harvest.

I have to say that this has got to be one of the best recipes I have ever created. As in I-wish-it-were-socially-acceptable-to-lick-the-bowl-good. Jess couldn't stop raving as well and even called her mom to read my blog tonight (hi Connie!). This will definitely be on repeat during our winter months.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

There is no need to peel any of the vegetables (except beets after cooking). They will end up being pureed anyway and will provide even more nutrition. You can also roast a second head of garlic at the same time for spreading on pieces of crusty french bread to go along with the soup. The measurements for the spices are approximations. Taste and add more if needed. You can made the soup thick or thin depending on how much broth you add. I prefer a thicker style soup myself.

8 medium-small carrots
1 sweet potato
3 beets
1 large onion
1 head garlic
olive oil

6-8 cups vegetable broth
2 Tbsp tumeric
2 Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
salt & pepper to taste

Optional:
Mexican crema (or sour cream)
chives, chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Chop carrots, beets, onions, & sweet potato into large chunks. Toss with olive oil and spread on a cookie sheet. Cut the top off the entire head of garlic and spread a bit of olive oil around the entire head, then place it on the cookie sheet. Roast vegetables until soft and slightly caramelized in the oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Once the vegetables are done roasting, let cool slightly, then remove the skins from the beets. They should peel off easily. Squeeze each garlic clove out of its skin, discard skin. Working in batches, puree the vegetables with some vegetable broth in a blender. Pour the puree into a stock pot. Turn heat to medium. Add the spices, stirring occasionally 5-10 minutes until heated through. Serve with a dallop of creama & chives.