Souper Duper: Roasted Veggie Soup
For some reason, we always want to roast things in the winter. Like vegan marshmallows, and vegetables. This week, we were standing in the kitchen looking at the produce we have in stock, and we couldn't resist the urge to start grabbing delicious veggies from the fridge and roasting them up ... we first thought, "Maybe a sandwich?" But then it was so gross outside that all we could think about was a big bowl of steamy hot soup, and the recipe for our Roasted Vegetable Soup was born.
Our version uses yellow squash, artichoke hearts, cubed red potatoes, roasted and crushed tomatos, and some roasted carrots, but you can roast pretty much any veggies and turn them into soup and it will taste good. The trick is to roast first (either fire-roasting or in the oven on 450), then sautee with a good quality olive oil, adding some garlic and maybe some celery for flavor. Once it's all coated in oil and starting to break down, you can add vegetable stock and some pureed tomatos (either make this yourself ahead of time, or from a can - but be sure to also try roasting up some tomatos to include too, it gives your soup a nice deep flavor). Season however you like - we recommend lots of smoked paprika and a touch of cumin - and simmer for an hour. Then just puree 2/3 of the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor, add any additional seasoning you want - like balsamic vinegar - and cook for another half hour. We serve ours with a dollop of vegan sour cream ... so good!