Saturday, February 5, 2011

Autumn Nostalgia

Soup is something that has always been in the household.  We may not always have a main course prepared, but there is always soup in the fridge, and bread in the pantry.  Inspired by the beautiful colours of autumn and my nostalgia for warmer weather, I prepared this Roasted Autumn Vegetable Soup, and Classic French Bread to start off the weekend.



When it comes to soup, I never use or follow formally written recipes, or measure/weigh any of the ingredients.  After all, you can't go wrong with throwing a bunch of beautiful, fresh ingredients into a pot ! 


 In case you aren't familiar with how to oven roast these vegetables:
To prepare the squash for roasting, I cut it in half, removed the seeds, oiled it generously and placed it in, threw in a few herbs (thyme & rosemary) and put it in a 375°F (190°C) oven for about 50 minutes or so.  I then wrapped my carrots and parsnips in foil and roasted them in a separate pan for 50 minutes, at the same temperature as the squash.



Because there's always lots of room for improvisation when you're preparing soup, I'll keep the proportions simple to remember, and the recipe quite brief.  Enjoy your weekend, readers !



French Bread

I used a wonderful in-depth recipe from the lovely blog Steamy Kitchen to bake this bread.  Looks like this will be a new family favourite from now on.
Autumn Vegetable Soup

1 cooking onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4-6 cups vegetable broth (depending on how thick you prefer your soup to be)
2 carrots, roasted, skins removed, coarsely chopped
2 parsnips, roasted, skins removed, coarsely chopped
2 butternut squashes, roasted, skins removed, coarsely chopped
Milk or cream (optional)
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch Paprika
Salt+Pepper to taste

1. Sauté onion and garlic over medium-high to high heat until golden.  Meanwhile, bring stock up to a simmer.
2.  Add onion, garlic, carrots, and parsnips to stock and simmer, covered, for 10-20 minutes.  Remove from heat.
3. Working in batches to avoid creating a mess in your kitchen from blending hot liquids, puree equal volumes of stock and vegetable mixture and butternut squash. 
4.  Slightly warm the soup over low heat.  Working to get the right consistency, add milk to thin out the soup, or heavy cream to thicken it, if desired. 
5. Adjust seasoning, adding salt, paprika, nutmeg, and any other spices you wish.  Serve immediately.

4 comments:

  1. wow, this looks sooooo good! and I love the photo of the squash :)

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  2. That was such a nice comment you left on my blog. Thank you!

    I've been craving soup like that. I just roasted a butternut squash tonight and I think I know where the rest is going...

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  3. YOU ARE ACTUALLY SUCH A PRO <3

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