1.22.2015

Delicious Vegetable Soup {Vegan Friendly}

This soup is nothing but beautiful vegetables.

Go to your favourite market and pick out some season vegetables.
Some of my favourites are root vegetables such as beets and carrots, a squash, 
some sweet bell peppers, hearty greens such as kale or swiss chard and something from the onion family.

To make a perfect vegetable broth
simply save all the trimmings and ends as you go about preparing your vegetables
and store them in a freezer zipper bag in your fridge's freezer.
Once the bag is full empty it into a large pot and fill it with water.
Bring it to a boil, then simmer for a long time. 
Often I just leave it on the stove all evening until I go to bed.
Separate into more labeled freezer bags and store for later use.

For this soup I peeled and roughly cut up
-one medium sized butternut squash
-two carrots
-a shallot
-some black kale (I reserved the rest for a salad)
-an apple
-a yellow pepper
-half a head of broccolli
- the whites of a leek
- 3 golden beets (red beets are fine too but will alter the colour of the soup)
- a whole head of garlic. (Lob the tips off and leave in the paper. Wrap in foil.)



Spread it all out on a pan and drizzle with a few glugs of your favourite oil.
Roast for about an hour at 400 degrees. 
They vegetables will all cook differently, but ultimately the squash should be able to be pierced with a fork.
You will have some lovely charred bits too, just adds to the flavour.



Take a large pot and add your vegetable broth.
(You can use chicken stock too, but it won't be vegan anymore.)
Add all your vegetables.
Next unwrap your garlic from the foil.
Squeeze it from the bottom and all the fragrant cloves will just pop out.
Bring this all to a boil and simmer for at least 35 minutes.
All the vegetables should be soft now.


If you have a hand held emulsion blender use this to puree the soup.
If not, transfer portions of the soup into a blender until it has all be pureed.
Keep over heat.

Next, add your flavours and aromatics.
This is where you get to be really creative and do what you please.
Explore different culinary worlds and make your soup
Moroccan, Indian, a bit bold and spicey.
Or you could leave it simple by seasoning it with some fresh ground pepper and salt.

If you wish, add a dollop of creme fresh or sour cream on the top and some fresh cut chives.

Bon Apetit! 

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