Beetroot, Parsnip & Potato Soup

For my lunch this week I wanted to use the beetroot & parsnip from the vegetable box. I have a recipe for a roast vegetable salad which includes both; but I really prefer hot food at this time of year, so I decided to try & make a soup. I read some of the beetroot soup recipes in my books to get an idea of the types of flavours I could use.

First, I diced an onion, 3 potatoes & 2 parsnips & fried these in a little olive oil.
Then I added 3 cups of vegetable stock & 1tsp of ground cumin & simmered for 20mins.
While this was happening I had a beetroot in roasting in the oven. This is the first time I have roasted a beetroot & it worked really well (just cut the stalks off about 2cm from the base, wrap in foil & roast for 45mins). Look at the purple juice seeping out - what an amazing colour! When the beetroot has cooled a little, remove the skin by rubbing it gently, then dice the flesh roughly.
Add the beetroot to the soup & simmer a further 15mins, until all the vegetables are very tender. Process the soup in a food processor or blender until smooth & return to the hot pan.
Add salt & pepper to taste & a dash of lemon juice. Stir well & enjoy!

Winter Vegetable Soup with Cornbread

I was in a baking mood yesterday so this week I did some Saturday baking, not Sunday baking as usual. I wanted to use the last of the vegetables from my delivery (in preparation for a new delivery this Tuesday). I lined up half a butternut pumpkin, 6 potatoes, 1 onion & heaps of carrots... & decided on a winter vegetable soup. To continue the yellow & orange theme I added some red lentils & yellow split peas to the mix.

Dice the vegetables & rinse the legumes, then fry the onions with 3 cloves of garlic & 1tsp of minced ginger in a stockpot for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining vegetables with about 1 litre of vegetable stock, 1tsp each of ground cumin, ground coriander & bouquet garni mix, 1/4tsp hot paprika & salt/pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat & simmer 20-30mins, until the split peas are tender. Puree the soup in a food processor or blender, in batches, until smooth (mine was so thick it's really more of a vegetable puree than a soup - perfect to keep me warm on these cold winter nights).

I decided to serve the soup with cornbread, mainly because we only had unhealthy white supermarket bread in the house & I felt like something a little more nutritious. I have made cornbread once before, using the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking (recipe available here). This is so easy & quick, I can't believe I didn't know about cornbread before! The first time I followed the recipe exactly & served the bread with some bean chilli, it was divine! This time, because the soup already had some sweetness from the pumpkin & carrot, I left the sugar out of the bread mix & also used wholemeal flour instead of white flour. The result was a more savoury, denser bread.

Final step - serve the soup with the warmed bread and enjoy!