Today I’m sharing a recipe that won first place in a Saltscapes magazine contest (submitted by Alan Hamilton of Tusket, NS). I saw this root soup recipe and immediately knew it would be delicious. Feel free to get creative with the sausage depending on your preferences. And you can use sausage meat or just cut up the sausage links into small pieces, or remove the casings. I used sausage links chopped small and just puréed them at the end.
I never do a recipe exactly the way it’s written because I change it to suit my tastes. And that’s okay. I will write the recipe exactly as it was published, but I did only add 1 parsnip, as I find the flavour of parsnips overpowering. I also added 1 heaping tsp. of curry powder. To me it just gave the soup more pizazz. And when I served it, I swirled in a little dab of sour cream just to make it pretty.
Root Soup Recipe
Peel all the vegetables and cut into bite size pieces.
Saute the vegetables and sausage meat in a little bit of olive oil until browned.
Add chicken stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until veggies are tender.
- 1 (500 g) package of mild Italian sausage meat
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 tbsp. Olive oil
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2-3 medium white potatoes
- 2-3 large carrots
- 2 parsnips
- 1 medium turnip
- 6 cups chicken stock
- Dash nutmeg
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- pepper and celery salt to taste
- Peel all the root vegetables and cut into bite sized pieces.
- In a stock pot, sauté chopped onion in olive oil.
- Add sausage meat and cook until lightly browned.
- Next, add garlic, nutmeg, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Add the chopped veggies and allow the veggies to combine with the onion, meat and herb mixture.
- Slowly add the chicken stock while stirring.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.
- Adjust seasoning if necessary, cover and simmer until the veggies are tender.
- Purée in batches or hit the soup with an immersion blender until it is puréed and there are no more chunks.
- If you are using my curry modification, add the curry at this point, stir it in well.
- Bring soup back up to temperature and serve hot.
This root soup recipe is perfect for this early spring weather. Still a little chill in the air most days, this soup will warm you up with its flavour and delicious blend of vegetables.
Do you have a favourite soup recipe? Leave a comment and let us know.
