Food: Roasted Vegetable Soup

The cold weather has come around really quickly hasn’t it? Gosh – I have been caught out and have had to do some speedy jumper washing and scarf finding and leggings hunting. And soup making.

I love soup. I could eat it all year round. I came across this recipe through my delightful friend Anna. Of course, I have ‘souped’ it up a bit {bad, bad joke} and made it in enormous quantities. It is not a quick soup, but it is easy, hearty and oh so delicious!

Instead of ‘Roasted Vegetable Soup’ I could also call this ‘The Bottom of the Crisper Soup’, but it doesn’t have the same ring to it. I make it the day before I do groceries and use, you guessed it, whatever is left in the crisper!

Just a note: I have a BIG oven, 90cm of baking goodness, so I can make HEAPS of this soup. I then freeze it and have it for lunch as many times a week as I can. As I am a Weight Watcher, this soup is points free {unless you use lentils or potatoes, then you have to adjust accordingly}.

Cooking Time: 60mins

Prep Time: 30mins

Serves: Around 6 BIG serves

Ingredients

1/2  pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes

2 brown onions, peeled, cut into 8 wedges

2 big zuchinnis, sliced thickly

2 red capsicums

1 kg tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges

3 big carrots, peeled and cut into slices {I steam these, too long to bake in oven}

Olive oil for spraying

2 tbsp minced garlic

Salt and Pepper

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius, line several baking trays with baking paper

2) Prep all vegetables and spread them on the baking trays, blob some garlic randomly around and season with salt and pepper. Spray with olive oil spray.

3) Bake all the vegetables for an hour or until soft. {Your house will smell amazing!}

4} When the vegetables are tender, carefully put them into a large saucepan {I literally pick up the paper and tip them into the pot}. Pour the stock into the pot. Blitz with a stick blender until smooth.

5) Put on the stove and bring to the boil. Add seasonings as desired – see variations.

6) Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and some crusty hot bread. Comfort food is served!

Variations

• This soup can be made just as I have listed, or you could add some different flavourings like: chilli {add to vegetables before baking}, basil, parsley or oregano {add just before blitzing}, curry powder {add just before blitzing, make sure the soup comes to the boil to ‘cook’ the spices} or – anything you like! It is very versatile!
• Other vegetables you could use: potato, sweet potato, beans, brocoli. cauliflower, chilli, apple, beetroot etc. Best not use mushrooms or anything that doesn’t freeze well, if you are going to freeze it…
• When using a variety of vegetables, it is best to roast the root vegetables and tomatoes and things, but, if you have broccoli, cauliflower, beans or carrots, it is best to steam them rather than roast them.
• Adding pulses is a great way to bulk up the soup. You can add a tin of lentils, kidney beans or any other similar bean.

What is your favourite soup?