Roasted Vegetable Soup

Winter Sundays are always good soup days. For this Italian-inspired soup, I roasted a bunch of vegetables (mostly root vegetables) with fresh rosemary, chopped fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes. You can use whatever vegetables you want or can find, just be sure to have some starchier veggies in there like potatoes/turnips/parsnips. Using a food mill instead of a blender means that you don't have to peel the vegetables or fish out the rosemary, and it gives the soup a more rustic texture. I drizzled the top with reduced balsamic vinegar and some good extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:

1 red potato

2 small turnips (I did peel these because they put wax on them)

2 leeks, rinsed

3 garlic cloves

1 small floret broccoli, halved

2 parsnips, roughly chopped

3 carrots, roughly chopped

1/2 big yellow onion, peeled and halved

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp roughly chopped fennel seeds

4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Carrot Soup with Dukkah and Yogurt

This is a very simple soup that is jazzed up by the yogurt and dukkah. The dukkah adds a great spice and the cool, tart yogurt is a nice texture in the soup. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into slices

1/2 qt vegetable broth

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp turmeric 

Pinch cayenne

Low fat greek yogurt

Get Better Soup

I had a bad cold and started to feel a little flu-ish on Monday and went home from work. I made myself a soup that I thought might cure my cold and nausea. I think it worked as I soon felt better. It's cheap and easy and tasty. Maybe don't have it before a date...

Garden Week 12

Everything looks awesome, and we had tons of peas! (I also yanked another carrot with overcrowding as my excuse. It's just too fun to pull them out.)

Those on the left are the Organic Pea Wando and on the right are the Sugar Snap (both Burpee). The Wando are not as tall and a little flatter and the Snap Peas are like 7 feet tall.

Week 11

The garden looks amazing! Everything is really starting to grow quickly. There were some peas (it seems the "pea wando" peas I planted in the first bed are actually snow peas not snap peas because they're flat). Next weekend we should have a lot more, and there were some babies forming.

I was impatient and pulled out a beet and a carrot. It was so satisfying! The chioggia beet had these beautiful circles on the inside, and the little baby carrot was crunchy and tasty.

Roast chicken with root vegetables

I went to the farmers market yesterday and picked up some good looking root vegetables. I got carrots, yellow carrots, a parsnip, a big leek, a turnip, and an onion. I decided they would be a great bottom to the roar chicken recipe I'd been wanting to try from Simple Fresh Southern. It turned out wonderfully, even though I nixed the wine because I didn't have any. It filled Jamie's apartment with the most homey, delicious smell (he smelled it when he opened the door downstairs and was hoping it was coming from his apartment). Plus with only two of us, there's plenty for leftovers and stock - after we cut all the meat off I threw the carcass in the freezer along with the neck.

Ingredients:
A selection of root vegetables including some onions and/or leeks
A few sprigs fresh time
Oil
1 lemon
1 3.5 lb chicken
1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Cut up vegetables into 1 inch chunks and put onto a cast iron skillet with thyme. Toss with oil, salt, and pepper.




Rinse and dry the chicken and bring to room temperature if you have time. Put the chicken breast side down on the vegetables. Squeeze half a lemon over the back and season liberally with kosher salt and pepper. Roast 20 minutes. Take the skillet out of the oven and carefully take off the chicken. Stir the veggies and add 1/2 cup broth. Put the chicken back on top back side down and squeeze the remaining lemon half in top and season liberally. Put back in the oven for 40 minutes. Take it out and let rest tented in foul 10 minutes. Carve up and serve with veggies!