Soup's On

I've always been a "souper."

It's a trait or preference first nurtured by my grandfather, who was always good for downing a huge bowl of Italian wedding soup.

"I even have a little machine that helps me make the meatballs," he'd say.

Minestrone, Miso and Mulligatawny. Chowder, Cheesy Potato or Chilled Cherry.

I've never met a soup I didn't like.

Christmas Eve was the perfect occasion for a hot, steamy bowl of soup. My mom thought since we would gorge ourselves on turkey and dressing the following day, lighter fare would be more appropriate that evening. We couldn't agree more. There's something about warming up with friendly conversation and a heaping bowl of soup on a winter's night.

Imagine our delight when our spoons dove into Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Vegetable Soup.

The recipe actually starts with Ina Garten's Roasted Winter Vegetables:

1 lb. carrots, peeled
1 lb. parsnips, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 small butternut squash (about 2 lbs.) peeled and seeded
3 T good olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 freshly ground black pepper
2 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut carrots, parsnips, sweet potato and butternut squash into 1 to 1 1/4 inch cubes. All vegetables will shrink while baking, so don't cut too small.

Place all vegetables in a single layer on two sheet pans. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss well. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Sprinkle with parsley and season to taste.

For the soup:

6 to 8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 recipe Roasted Winter Vegetables
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Good olive oil

In a large saucepan, heat 6 cups chicken stock (though my mom says bouillon cubes and water is just fine, too). In two batches, coarsely puree the roasted vegetables and the chicken stock in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pour the soup back into the pot and season to taste. Thin with more chicken stock and reheat. The soup should be thick but not like a vegetable puree, so add more chicken stock and/or water until it's the consistency you like.

Drizzle with olive oil and serve with croutons.

(Ed note: my mom fried up some bacon and garnished the soup with fresh, crumbled bits. The smoky, salty flavor of the bacon was a perfect compliment to the soup).

Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.