Soup season is in session! The temperature has dropped in Alberta and I have spent the past few weekends making big batches of soup. I’ll dedicate an afternoon to chopping, roasting and simmering, then freeze the soup in single-serve batches and voila! I have lunches prepared for weeks. I’m constantly trying to eat more vegetables, and I find soup is a sneaky but delicious solution. If you’re meal prepping this weekend, why not give this one a try?
I’ve tried tons of soup recipes, mostly found through Pinterest. I like to take a couple of recipes and combine them based on the ingredients and flavours that I enjoy. My favourite is roasted vegetable soup, simmered low and slow, then pureed until smooth. After much testing and tasting, here’s the basic recipe that I use for roasted vegetable soup:
(These measurements are not exact – I tend to eyeball the amounts!)
I use these ingredients as the base for all my soups:
- A few tablespoons of olive oil
- Half a yellow onion, chopped
- A large carrot or two, peeled and diced
- One large celery stick, diced
- One yellow potato, peeled and diced
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- Freshly ground salt and pepper (a few turns each on the grinder)
- 6 cups of vegetable stock
Time to choose your vegetables that will be the star of the soup! Here are a few of my favourite combinations:
- Roasted beet and cauliflower – 2 large beets and 2 heads of cauliflower
- Roasted cauliflower in curry spices – 2-3 heads of cauliflower
- Roasted tomato and red pepper – 10 Roma tomatoes and 2-3 red peppers
- Straight-up roasted tomato – 20 Roma tomatoes
- Roasted sweet potato and carrot – 1 large sweet potato and a handful of large carrots
For roasted beets, wrap individually in tin foil and bake at 400 F for 60 – 90 minutes until you can pierce with a fork.
For all other vegetables, peel if needed and chop into smaller pieces. Toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 F for 35 – 40 minutes.
While the vegetables are roasting, chop the onion, carrots, celery, and potato. When there are about five minutes left on the roasting veggies, heat the olive oil in a large pot over low-medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent, about five minutes. Add the carrot, celery and potato and cook for another five minutes. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook for one more minute.
By now the roasted vegetables should be out of the oven. Add them to the pot and give it a good stir so everything mixes together. Add the vegetable stock to the pot and bring it to a boil. The veggies should float easily in the broth – if not, then add a cup or two of water or vegetable stock. Once boiling, reduce to a low simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes. Give it a stir every so often.
After the soup has simmered, remove from heat and grab your immersion blender. (You can also pour the soup into a regular blender in batches, but an immersion blender is much easier. Trust me, get one – they’re so worth it!) Puree the soup until smooth, or leave it chunky if you like. Give it a taste and add more salt if the flavour’s not coming through. For roasted tomato soup, I like to pour it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any straggly skins or seeds.
Allow to cool on the counter, then freeze in single-serve containers. I find a pot of soup usually makes about six servings. Stick the soup in the fridge one day before you’re planning to eat, so it has time to thaw. Roasted beet soup is great with a dollop of sour cream on top, and all soups are delicious with crackers or a side of toasted sourdough!
I hope you enjoy! What’s your favourite type of soup? Do you have suggestions for other roasted vegetable combinations?
Run Revelry 