Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Soup
Welcome to “Reinventing the Soup 2.0”! This recipe follows my previous post (Mushroom Soup with Thyme and Crème Fraîche) wherein I, elaborately, explained my need to reinvent, re-experience and re-explore my soup repertoire. If you read my previous post, feel free to skip directly to the recipe. However, if you, like me, feel it is time to rejuvenate the humble soup, please feel free to read on!
As you probably concluded, following the topic of my recent posts, it is unnecessary for me to tell you that it is winter and therefor, soup-season. Now, as someone known to have at least three variations of frozen, homemade soup in my freezer at any given time, it can also be safely concluded that I adore soup. However, for a while I wasn’t all too excited when it came to making and eating soup. Don’t get me wrong; I can eat soup every day of the week, it is hearty and warm and makes a wonderful weeknight-freezer-meal, the perfect remedy for a chilly winters evening. That said – it just wasn’t exciting anymore – it needed some reinvention!
This year as autumn set in, I decided to do something about it. I decided to reinvent the tired soup. That is at least those that I love, some classics and new (to me) discoveries on my soup journey. Doing months of research, which if you’re a food blogger means “eating”, I discovered some fresh, modern soups – some are old favorites, elevated by adding as little as one miracle ingredient, changing up the flavor combination or simply by improving the way we treat and cook the ingredients.
Vegetable soup has always been one of my favorite soups. That said, I’m known to be very specific when it comes to making vegetable soup: for one, I firmly believe that it is of utmost importance that the vegetables be roasted – almost the point of being charred. Those dark edges are where I believe the true flavor develops, in my opinion this is how you get edge in flavor that you will never get from a pressure cooker or broiled vegetables. You want the vegetables to be just cooked through and definitely not soft or mushy.
Secondly, however equally important, is the selection of vegetables. I prefer using what I call a “Mediterranean selection” of vegetables, including red onions, zucchini, fresh paprika, butternut and cherry tomatoes – my roasting tray also includes whole garlic cloves, fresh rosemary and thyme. These Mediterranean vegetables turns into a rich and luxuriously thick soup that is bright and vibrant, both in color and flavor and will transport you to the Mediterranean. This combination of vegetables and herbs in itself is partly responsible for refreshing the humble “vegetable soup”.
Lastly, there is simply no replacement for quality when it comes to maximizing flavor. Despite this being a soup, I urge you not to compromise on flavor and to use the very best quality of fresh vegetables, stock/ broth and olive oil when roasting – you will taste the difference in the depth of flavor and texture.
I often serve this soup with crostini but more often with rough, toasted chunks of sourdough or ciabatta, tossed in good olive oil. This soup is a freezer-favorite and I like to portion the soup out before freezing in resealable bags.
Welcome to my “Soup Repertoire 2.0”!
My tips for making extraordinary soups:
- You need to roast, char or brown ingredients first- this is where serious flavor develops! Use the oven with its grill on high or a scorching-hot griddle pan or skillet.
- Keep it bright, fresh and crunchy – I cannot stand those pressure cooker soups where everything is cooked to a mush. Resist the urge to overcook ingredients – the wholesomeness lies in the fresh, uncooked ingredient.
- Be inventive. Try new combinations of ingredients. Leave the spices and chop in fresh herbs instead.
- Use good quality stock/ broth whenever you need to add liquid to a soup. Water will dilute the flavor while poor quality stock will change the flavor that you have been working so hard to create.
- Ensure that you are using the best quality of seasonal ingredients, there really is no substitution for quality.
- Think about the texture. How would you like it to eat? You might want to serve a potato soup smooth and strained while the pleasure of a mushroom soup lies in its grainy texture.
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Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic whole
- 2 large red onions quartered
- 500 g butternut cut into cubes of roughly 3cm x 3cm
- 350 g zucchini cut into cubes or wheels
- 3 fresh paprika or 2 red peppers sliced
- 150 g cherry tomatoes
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary the leaves stripped from the stems
- 1 tsp fresh thyme the leaves stripped from the stems
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 5-6 cup vegetable broth/ stock
- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup cream
- salt & pepper
- Thyme or spring onion and dehydrated onion crisps to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C with the grill on medium. On a baking sheet, arrange the onions, butternut, zuchinni, paprika (or red peppers) and tomatoes and coat evenly with olive oil. Sprinkle over the fresh herbs and toss together. At this stage, season only with pepper as salt will cause the vegetables to steam instead of roasting. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until dark and caramelized and the vegetables are just cooked through but not soft or mushy. Add the garlic cloves halfway through the cooking process to prevent them from burning. Toss the vegetables every few minutes, ensuring an even roast.
- Transfer the roasted vegetables along with any remaining cooking juices and oil to a large casserole. Add the white wine and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the stock/ broth and cook for 10 minutes more. Add the lemon juice and zest.
- Transfer the vegetables to a heat safe blender and process until smooth. You can also use an immersion blender. The consistency is really up to preference. You may even consider reserving a portion of the vegetables before processing and adding them back in afterwards for extra texture. I prefer a smoother texture but could never imagine going as far as straining it!
- Add the worcestershire sauce and taste. Season with salt, keeping in mind that stock/ broth are often salty enough. If it needs to be balanced, add the brown sugar now. Marble through the cream, garnish with dehydrated onion crisps, fresh thyme or spring onion and serve warm. If you'll be freezing the soup, allow to cool and portion into resealable bags. Freeze on the same day.
Notes
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