Root Vegetable Soup

 

I come from a long line of soup lovers. My mom made the best soups in the world, and I like to think that I can make a pretty great pot of soup myself.   All I know about making soup, I learnt at my mother's knee, which is a pretty good place to learn something if you ask me! 

 

This soup I am sharing today is a fairly simple soup, using simple ingredients. I like recipes like that.  Simple ingredients put together in a very delicious way. You can't beat it! 

 

It makes use of root vegetables, although you would certainly be welcome to add other vegetables to it as you wish. Myself, I like the simplistic presentation of root vegetables, done in discernible pieces and not mashed together into a puree.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love pureed vegetable soups quite a bit also.  Sometimes though I like the interest and texture of lovely bits and pieces, in a well flavoured broth.  Today I used chicken stock, but you could certainly use vegetable stock and keep it all vegetarian for the veggies in your life.

 

Celeriac is a vegetable I don't use really often. I don't know why.  I really love it.  I think it might be called celery root in North America.  You could certainly use cubed celery in its place if you wanted to.  I like the mildness of celeriac however, and I do think it is more attractive in this soup than celery would be.

 

For the potato, you will want to use a good baking or russet potato.  Oddly enough once they are cooked you can hardly tell the difference between the potato and the celeriac, unless you look really closely.  They, of course, taste very different!!

 

Carrots are a must.  I love the pop of colour that they bring to an otherwise very plain soup.  Also, I love the flavour of carrots . . .  earthy and sweet.  You sweat them first in butter with the onions, which really helps to enhance their sweetness.  Onions are a must in soups in my opinion.  They are such flavour boosters! 

 

The only other vegetable I have used is Swede or rutabagas as they are also called.  I adore rutabagas.  I think they are one of my favourite vegetables.

  

We just called them turnips when I was growing up, and my mother always served them mashed with a bit of potato mashed into them.  I always just adored my mum's mashed turnips.  They were a must when it came to celebratory dinners!  It was not a holiday without them!

 

Neither was a soup or a stew complete without them!

  

You could also add some parsnip if you wanted to. They are also a root vegetable, resembling somewhat a pale white carrot . . . but with a very distinct flavour.  Personally, I think the root vegetables that I have used in this soup are simply the perfect combination.  (I am a tad biased admittedly!) Don't skip adding the lemon juice, it really does make a difference!

Yield: 6Author: Marie Rayner

Root Vegetable Soup

prep time: 15 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 50 mins

This simple soup really is delicious.  Proof positive that it is the simple things in life which bring us the most joy.

ingredients:

2 TBS butter

2 onions, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled, quartered and sliced

scant 2 litres chicken stock (8 cups)

1 baking potato, peeled and diced

1 turnip or medium sized rutabaga, peeled and cut into bite sized wedges

1 celeriac,, peeled and diced (celery root)

1 bay leaf, crumbled

1 tsp celery seed

the juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and black pepper to taste

instructions:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and carrots.  Cook,
stirring often, over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken
stock, potato, turnip, celery root, bay leaf, celery seed and lemon
juice. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for about
half an hour until the vegetables are nice and tender.  Taste and adjust
 seasoning as required with salt and black pepper to taste.  Serve hot.

Created using The Recipes Generator

  

We had some stale bread left from a loaf I had bought when we had company.  They made beautiful toasts to serve along with the soup.  I lightly buttered them and sprinkled them on both sides with some Italian Garlic Seasoning. I then baked them on an oven tray in a hot oven until golden brown. Perfectly delicious.  I do like something crunchy with soups.  Its a personal preference of mine. Todd, he always likes a bread roll. 

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 Bon Appetit!