Putting Fall’s Root Vegetables to Delicious Use

Yesterday morning Mack woke up fussing at 5:24.  Ugh.  Although he settled himself back to sleep, I was up. I gave myself 20 minutes to fall back into my dreams, but it was no use.  So, I decided to be productive with this extra 90 minutes in my day.  I took care of a few work emails before starting on a pot of soup big enough for a few lunches for Chris and dinner for the kids and I. It was so nice nice to have dinner done before sunrise!

The night before Chris had requested my mom’s root vegetable soup.  Full of seasonal veggies and earthy flavor, it is the perfect fall meal.  My mom never makes the same batch twice – it depends on what’s available and looking good when she’s in the grocery store.  Her list of possible ingredients includes squash, parsnips, carrots, rutabega, turnips, potato, onion and celery root. She tosses in fresh or tried herbs like thyme, parsley or dill, too.  Any combination seems to turn out beautifully.  I take her same approach when making it.

Here’s the list of ingredients I used to make yesterday’s batch of root vegetable soup:

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped

1 yellow onion, diced

1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped

1 celery root, peeled and chopped

2 teaspoons dried thyme

6-8 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I had a wonderful batch of homemade chicken broth waiting in the freezer, but homemade vegetable broth is easy, too!)

Splash of milk, optional

salt, pepper

In a large skillet, melt some of the butter over medium heat.  In batches, cook vegetables in the skillet until they are browned.  Drop into a large stock pot and continue browning remaining vegetables in the skillet.

Once all the vegetables are browned and in the stock pot, cover with broth and sprinkle in thyme.  Bring to a boil and cook until all vegetables are tender – about 30 minutes.  Puree in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender directly in the soup pot.  If the pureed soup seems a bit too thick, thin it out with some milk, more broth or water.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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1 Comment for this entry

  1. Mandie says:

    We made this tonight and it was delicious! A hit with our dinner guests as well. Thanks for a great recipe.

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