18 Sep Creamy Roasted Vegetable Soup – budget recipes
As one way of beating the cost of living crisis, I find that it can be good to make a big pot of something for lunch during the week so that we are not tempted to go and spend money on eating lunch out. (It is also healthier that way!) This week, even though spring is poking its head around the corner, I was craving a soup of some kind (perhaps as a last hoorah for the colder months). And so, I consulted Cookie and Kate’s Creamy Cauliflower Soup. In the making of it, though, I got quite creative with the ingredients and the recipe turned into a Creamy Roasted Vegetable Soup. And so, here is the recipe.
The idea is that you roast some cauliflower, certainly. But I had only bought a half head of cauliflower and had a crisper with some half-used Meditteranean-type vegetables, left over from the Tuna Puttanesca. I also had 1/8 of a head of cabbage left over from my Sunshine Slaw last week.
Budget-low waste cooking
So, I decided to roast up these veggies at the same time as roasting the cauliflower and put them into the pot with the broth to simmer and meld the flavours. Time will tell if this was a successful experiment! If it works, it makes me think that if you use a base of cauliflower as a base, you can really roast 2 – 3 cups of whatever vegetables you like for this Creamy Roasted Vegetable Soup!
Then I threw in some chopped chilli with the garlic, because I also had a chilli left in the crisper, and why the hell not? A bit of heat in a creamy soup might be nice!
Creamy Roasted Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 head cauliflower chopped into florets
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups favourite veggies I used broccoli, eggplant, zucchini and cabbage
- 1 medium red onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 red or green chilli chopped
- 2 tbsp non salted butter or vegan alternative
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Put cauliflower and vegetables on a parchment lined baking tray (you may need two) and drizzle with 1 - 2 tbsp of olive oil - toss to coat then sprinkle with sea salt
- Bake at 200 - 210 C for approximately 35 minutes, tossing half way
- When the veggies are nearly cooked, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a soup pot on medium heat and add chopped onions. Saute, stirring occasionally for 5 - 7 minutes or until softened and translucent
- Add minced garlic and chilli and cook for 30 seconds stirring constantly
- Reserve 4 of the prettiest florets of cauliflower (if you want to be fancy) and add the rest of the roasted veggies to the pot with the broth. Increase heat to medium - high until simmering, then reduce to low so that the pot simmers for about 20 minutes - so that the flavours meld.
- Let the soup stand for a few minutes to cool, and then add to a blender jug, and blend on the hot setting. Be careful to not overfill the blender or hot soup will escape and potentially burn you.
- Once blended, add the butter and lemon juice and blend again.
- Serve with a reserved floret and some chopped parsley for garnish.
Notes
I feel like this is a good template for any creamy roasted vegetable soup recipe. The butter and lemon juice at the end really bring out the flavours of the veggies and make it oh, so, delicious.
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