Soup is not only an awesome way to warm up when the weather is colder, but nothing else much beats one pot cooking in the kitchen–except for maybe sharing your favorite soup recipes with your friends.
Soup is food for your belly, food for the soul, and food for your social life. A big pot of soup is an ideal way to cultivate community, foster friendships, and nourish your family. And we can all use more great soup recipes that will delight even the most curmudgeonly soup-deniers (there are some among us who don’t love soup as much as we do).
To add to your soup recipes repertoire, there’s a great new recipe resource of soups for sharing. In “Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share” by Kathy Gunst, soup lovers will find 60 plus tasty recipes, featuring classics like Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled-Cheese Croutons and international delights like Thai Red Curry-Chicken Noodle Soup.
Each recipe in the book has tips and suggested sides to expand your pot into a complete meal, as well as tips for easy transporting. The idea is to make it simpler to bring your soup to a swap where everyone can sample the offerings and then take home a variety of soup leftovers to enjoy all week. We love that idea because it does get old eating the same pot of soup all week long!
Whether you plan on sharing via a soup swap or savoring at home, you will enjoy these hearty, wholesome, and heart-warming soup recipes.
Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup
Excerpted with permission from “Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share.”
When you roast winter root vegetables along with shallots, leeks, and garlic, they caramelize and become sweet. Although this soup takes about an hour from start to finish, the resulting flavor is startlingly complex. It’s important to cut the vegetables about the same size to ensure even cooking.
Ingredients
- 3 medium leeks
- 3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-in [12-mm] pieces
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-in [12-mm] pieces
- One 2-lb [910-g] butternut squash or any type of winter squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-in [12-mm] cubes
- 2 large or 3 medium celery stalks, cut crosswise into 1/2-in [12-mm] pieces
- 1 medium celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2-in [12-mm] cubes
- 2 shallots, quartered
- 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 2 tsp dried
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 5 cups [1.2 L] Vegetable Stock or canned low-sodium broth
- 3/4 cup [180 ml] dry white wine
- Parsley Pesto for serving
- Double-Cheese Croutes for serving
Directions
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400°F [200°C].
2. Trim off the dark green sections from the leeks and save for making vegetable stock. Halve the pale green and white sections lengthwise. Rinse under cold running water, pat dry, and cut crosswise into ½-in [12-mm] pieces.
3. In one large or two medium very shallow roasting pan(s) or rimmed baking sheet(s), combine the leeks, parsnips, carrots, squash, celery, celery root, shallots, garlic, and thyme. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to evenly coat the vegetables. You don’t want to have vegetables on top of one another; you want them in a single layer.
4. Roast the vegetables for 20 minutes. Turn the oven temperature to 450°F [230°C] and roast for another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are a nice golden brown, almost crispy on the edges, and almost soft when you gently test them with a fork or small, sharp knife. You don’t want them soft and mushy; they will continue cooking in the soup.
5. Meanwhile, in a large stockpot over high heat, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and gently simmer.
6. Remove the vegetables from the oven, add the wine, and deglaze the pan, using a spatula to loosen any bits clinging to the bottom. Pour everything from the baking sheet into the stock. Turn the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if needed.
7. Ladle the soup into mugs or bowls and serve piping hot, topped with the pesto and croutes.
TO GO: Pack the pesto and croutes separately. Makes 10 to 12 tasting portions or 6 to 8 full servings.
Maine-based chef and writer Kathy Gunst has written 14 books, including “Notes from a Maine Kitchen: Seasonally Inspired Recipes” and “Relax, Company’s Coming!: 150 Recipes for Stress-Free Entertaining.” She is also the resident chef on NPR’s award-winning public radio show “Here and Now”.
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Images from Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst, photographs by Yvonne Duivenvoorden (Chronicle Books, 2016).
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