Roasted Vegetable Soup

Last Friday we had a little trip to Murrurundi so Tim could work an extra shift there. From there it isn't too far to Scone so we headed down  to Paddock to Pantry for lunch. Soup of the week was Warming vegetable soup with caraway. YUM. So yum in fact that I emailed for a recipe but as is the way with most soups, the recipe is really more of a guideline than an actual recipe. I made my own version for us and had a delicious lunch in the vegetable garden today.

 

Roasting the vegetables adds a little richness to the soup but I'm sure if you were pressed for time, the vegetables could just be boiled in stock/ water without losing too much flavour. Anyway, this is how I made today's soup with what I had on hand. I also added a few mushrooms at the last minute because they were there and needed using today.

Possibly an even better way to prepare the vegetables would be to have a roast dinner and use any leftover vegetables or pop in some extras just for making soup.

 Roasted Vegetable Soup

 

Ingredients

1kg pumpkin, peeled and chopped into large pieces

2 carrots, chopped

500 grams potatoes, peeled and chopped

250 grams sweet potato, peeled and chopped

2 capsicums, seeds removed and quartered (I peeled these after roasting)

3 tomatoes, halved

1 onion, peeled and quartered

1 zucchini

4 cloves garlic

3 tbs olive oil

 

1.5 teaspoons caraway seeds,ground

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground

 

 Vegetable stock/water

 

Method

Heat the oven to 220deg C.

Using a large roasting pan heat the olive oil for a few minutes in the oven. Then add the vegetables and cook until tender when tested with a knife and the outside of the vegies has some colour.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a large pot and gently fry the ground spices for a minute.

Add the roasted vegetables and enough stock/water to just cover the vegetables.

Cook for about 10 minutes then puree. Adjust the seasoning to suit (I don't use salt at all so you might find my recipes lacking) and the thickness of the soup too. I prefer a thicker puree (kind of like baby food) but a little more stock and it will be more 'soupy'.

 

I just happened to have a couple of capsicum still hanging on in the garden despite the heavy frosts. If I had parsnips or turnips or even kohl rabi ready then I think they would also make a nice addition to the melange of vegies.

I'm yet to convince my son that this type of cooking is wonderful fare that he could add to his repertoire of cooking (if that is what I can call the three things he cooks when at uni- curry, chilli and pasta all from jars of sauces). It could be worse, he could be living on 2 minute noodles I suppose. I have noticed there have been no leftovers here the past two weeks he has been home.

Well that is our dinner sorted tonight so I have some spare time for sewing. That's a bonus. I'm making up a bag tonight using charm squares and a stitchery panel.

Tracy