Roasted Vegetable Soup

Roasted Vegetable Soup
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Yield: 6 servings
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 -3 medium Yukon Gold or red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 large Garnet yam, scrubbed and sliced into 1/2” pieces
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2” pieces
2 small parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2” pieces
2 medium chioggia or yellow beets, scrubbed and cut into 1/2” wedges
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into large wedges (about 6-8 pieces)
1 head garlic, cloves peeled, ends trimmed
2 quarts vegetable stock or bouillon dissolved in hot water
bouquet garni: 1 branch rosemary, 2 branches thyme, 1 bay leaf, and 1 branch parsley all tied with kitchen string
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425º. Rub vegetables with coconut oil or toss in olive oil and place on a heavy, rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with a large pinch salt and freshly ground pepper. Place pan in oven and roast, stirring with flat metal spatula once or twice. Roast until vegetables are tender and starting to brown, about 30-40 minutes. Do not burn.

2. Warm the vegetable stock in a large soup pot. When vegetables are roasted, remove them from the oven and carefully transfer them to the pot. Remove 1 cup of the vegetable stock with a ladle and pour into the roasting pan and gently stir with metal spatula to loosen any browned or caramelized bits. Carefully pour contents of the baking pan back into the soup pot. Add bouquet garni.

3. Warm the stock and roasted vegetables together with bouquet garni and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes. Remove herbs, season soup to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley and serve.

Kitchen Tip: Making a bouquet garni always sounds harder than it is. You can get the same results by floating individual branches of herbs in the soup but then you have to fish out all of those branches before serving. I keep unwaxed dental floss next to my stove to use for tying bouquet garni because it’s small and compact and works just as well as kitchen twine. It just takes a minute or two to wrap the herbs and tie them together.