[vintage super + soup, circa 2009]
i whipped up a batch of that soup this afternoon. i'm not sure one should use the term "whip up" with a recipe that takes several hours, however i think the lack of time-on-task involved makes up for the couple hours it takes for this hearty (and healthy) soup to come together. there is some initial chopping, to be sure, but that's basically it. i suppose if the family is passing through the kitchen, you could quickly stash away your knitting or reading and give it a leisurely stir to make it appear you are putting in considerable effort. but really, with root vegetables and the like, the roasting takes care of all the hard work for you. shall we?
the original recipe to that soup can be found here - however, tonight's variation welcomed a few new players to the stage, namely: carrots, celery, yukon gold potatoes, sweet potato, maya onion, parsnips, zucchini, and roasted garlic*.
after it was all roasted (this time it was a full hour at 400), into the dutch oven it all went for a little smash with a potato masher** to release juices + flavor + tension.
then in went a box of chicken stock (32 oz, i think) which when empty, i filled with tap water and added to the pot as well. a large can of crushed tomatoes (48 oz, or so) rounded out the brew.
please know, if it were summer, i would have roasted fresh tomatoes from the garden. however, it is far from summer here in Ohio, and the tomatoes at the market this afternoon were far from local and barely smelled of tomato-goodness. canned is where it's at today.
and because i was feeling sneaky, i also added a cup of red lentils to add some protein. let it simmer for about 45 minutes and voila!
[imagine an awesome photo of that soup here]
this created a huuuge batch, with two more meals stored in the freezer afterward. also, this time it was much more orange than that beauty shot at the beginning of this post - the infusion of color coming from the sweet potatoes and lentils. and to think i almost added a butternut squash, as well.
thanks to miss julia for reminding me of this recipe in my arsenal.
enjoy! xoxo
: : :
*to roast the garlic, i placed and entire unpeeled head of garlic into some heavy duty foil, drizzled with olive oil and sealed it up. it was nestled right in the roasting pan with everything else. when the roasting was done, i simply cut off the end of the garlic head with a serrated knife to expose the gooey roasted cloves, and then squeezed them directly into the soup. i may have burned my fingers a bit, but...
**i used a potato masher this time for two reasons -
a) i wanted chunky soup so we could swoon over all those veggies;
b) i have no idea where my immersion blender is.
