Winter Vegetable Soup

See, I promised I would eventually do something relatively creative with root vegetables.

"Um, Katy. You boiled and pureed them. You basically made baby food."

No, it's a soup. That's what soup is.

"That's also what baby food is."

Well. It tastes a lot better than baby food.

And with that, I will stop typing imaginary conversations with myself. (I don't actually talk to myself, only, apparantly, in typing).

I debated calling this "Root Vegetable Soup," but frankly, that sounds incredibly unappetizing. Sure, most of these ingredients are dug out of the ground, but you don't want to have to actually *think* about that, right? So, this is my "winter" vegetable soup -- although obviously, in winter, not much grows above ground. The "root vegetable" part is still implied, but I've decided not to beat you guys over the head with it.

Because besides a faint resemblance to baby food and a potentially unappetizing name, this soup was just plain delicious, and it's an awesome way to use up all the CSA veggies we get at this time of year. Potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots -- just throw them all in. Mix up a double batch and you won't ever have to throw out a root vegetable again.

Winter Vegetable Soup

INGREDIENTS

4 large boiling potatoes, washed, peeled and cubed

3 carrots, washed, peeled and cubed

1 large turnip, washed and cubed

2 large parsnips, washed, peeled and cubed

1 large onion, washed and diced

1/4 celery root, peeled and cubed

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cups water

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground cumni

Salt

Pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large stock pot, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until translucent and fragrant, over medium-low heat. Add water, carrots and celeriac and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper as desired. Add potato, turnip and parsnip cubes, smoked paprika and ground cumin and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste for additional salt, season as necessary, and remove from heat. In batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Transfer the soup back into the stock pot, reheat if necessary, and serve.

 

Serves 4-6.