I have been fortunate this autumn to receive a large number of root vegetables from my father’s garden. It’s one of the ties to my family and the community where I grew up that has a strong emotional warmth for me, and I like to honour that by making exciting, hearty food.
Sarah Kramer‘s La Dolce Vegan!: Vegan Livin’ Made Easy is one of my favourite cookbooks and I decided to adapt one recipe from the book to fit with the foods I had on hand, with rewarding results. “Maury’s Roasted Root Soup” is a great recipe on its own, but when I dropped garlic and added beets, carrots and mushrooms it became livelier.
Ingredients:
- 1 large sweet potato, cubed
- 4 small carrots, cubed (approx. 1 cup)
- 4 small parsnips, cubed (approx. 1 cup)
- 5 small mushrooms*, whole (approx. 1 cup)
- 3 potatoes, cubed (approx. 1 cup)
- 3 small beets, cubed (approx 1 cup)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1.5 cups almond milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
*I used dried shitaki mushrooms.
Pre-heat oven to 400°F (205°C).
In a medium baking dish, stir together vegetables, mushrooms, rosemary, and oil until well coated. If mushrooms are dried, rehydrate first or add to stock.
Bake vegetables for 25-30 minutes, or until the veggies can be poked easily with a fork.
Just before the veggies are ready, in a large soup pot, bring the stock to a boil.
Reduce to medium heat and add the roasted vegetables.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Add almond milk, salt and pepper.
Mash or blend soup. I used a potato masher so that some larger pieces remained intact.