Stone Soup

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with feasting aplenty!  We spent lots of quality time in the kitchen, and came up with and tried out some new recipes that we'll be sharing.

Today's recipe reminded us of the story of Stone Soup.  If you aren't familiar with this tale...a stranger comes to town, villagers don't want to share food so he sets a pot to boil with a stone in it.  Out of curiosity a villager asks what he's doing, says he's making stone soup, but it needs a little flavoring, so the villager gives him a carrot.  Then one by one more villagers come out, ask the same question and throw a little something into the pot.  When all is said and done, they have a tasty soup for everyone to share.

Now we didn't ask strangers for food or throw rocks in our pot, but our friends Meredith and Lonny had a hodge-podge of fall veggies in the fridge that we decided to bring together to see what we came up with.  Ended up with a tasty treat and hearty soup for everyone to share. 

Rosemary Root Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, minced
4-5 medium potatoes
3 large turnips
1/2 medium rutabaga
4-5 medium carrots
1/2 large kholabi
2 parsnips
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4-1 cup white wine
64 oz. veggie stock (or broth)
1-2 cups water
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and large chop all of your root veggies and set aside.

In the bottom of a large soup pot, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil.  Once the onion is translucent, add in the white wine and stir well.

Pour in the veggie stock (or broth).

Add in the chopped root vegetables. Add in enough water to make sure that the veggies are "covered."  You want to be able to dunk them in the liquid, you don't want any sitting above the liquid line.

Bring everything to a boil in the pot, then drop the heat to low.  Add in the rosemary sprigs and allow to simmer until veggies are to the desired tender consistency.

The rosemary leaves will cook off the stems.  The stems can be removed at any time after that happens.

Serve up with a bit of parmesan and some nice wheat bread.

NOTES

* The recipe makes a little over a gallon of soup.  We kept half out for eating and froze the rest.  If you don't want to make that much, cut the recipe amounts in half.

* You can use any combination of root vegetables, these were the ones we had on hand.  The recipe should be used as more of a guideline than a point of fact.  Be creative!

* For those looking for post-Tday recipes, add in your leftover turkey to the soup, it'll go great with the root vegetables.