Left-Over Roast Vegetable Soup Recipe

 

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.
~Calvin Trillin

Hey, Lovelies.

Whenever I cook a roast I always make sure to cook up a mass of root vegetables. I’ll bake potato, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot so that I have enough for dinner and plenty of leftovers. I love leftovers! It saves me having to do a big cook every day, and it provides lots of extra simple meals for when I am busy or tired. I’m going through a bit of a soup phase right now, so all of those spare baked spuds from the weekend roast screamed to be turned into a big pot of lovely liquid…

This soup is essentially a left-over roast vegetable soup. It definitely needs potato to give it that creamy velvety texture, but you can use any other kinds of roasted vegetables too. At times I have used pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, cauliflower, broccoli and even roast tomatoes.

You can make it to suit your own dietary needs – it can be easily made as vegan or vegetarian, or you can add additional protein by using a bone-broth base, and finishing it with a little bacon, cheese or sour cream.

This is a hearty, filling soup that can made in 30 minutes. You can keep it in the fridge for 3 days, and it also freezes well. It’s great served with crusty fresh bread, toast or garlic bread.

The soup you see pictured was made with 70% roasted potatoes, and the other 30% a combination of golden and white sweet potato (the one with the purple skin), and butternut pumpkin. My local greengrocer also had smoked garlic, so I used six cloves of that – which really added a delicious flavour. Honestly, this is foolproof, so just wing it with what you have.

Enjoy!

Nicole xx

Ingredients

• Around 750g of cooked roasted potatoes or a combination of roasted potatoes and other roasted vegetable roughly chopped into chunks – this is between 5 to 6 cups of cooked vegetables. If you haven’t roasted your vegetables yet, cut into chunks, add a drizzle of olive oil and toss them to coat, and then bake in oven ay 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden and cooked through.
• Olive oil – around two tablespoons
• 1 onion, diced
•  4 to 6 large cloves of garlic (less if you don’t like garlic, more if you are a garlic addict like me)
• 3 to 4 cups of stock, or enough stock to just cover the vegetables (use stock cubes and water, bone broth or vegetable stock – whatever you prefer)
• For a more decadent soup you can add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of cream or milk of your choice to thin the soup when it has finished cooking.
• salt and pepper to taste

Optional but good to finish the soup

Your choice of any of the following:

• a dollop of sour cream, plain yoghurt or crème fraiche
• grated cheese such as pecorino, parmesan or something with a bit of taste to it
• crispy bacon bits
• crispy croutons
• chopped fresh herbs such as green onion, chives, dill or parsley
• fresh bread, toast or garlic bread

Method

1. Place a slurp ( 1 to 2 tablespoons) of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook. stirring often, until soft and fragrant but not coloured.
2. Dump in your roughly chopped roasted vegetables, and your stock, a good grind of pepper and a pinch of salt.
3. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until vegetables are soft and mushy and breaking apart.
4. Check while cooking in case it becomes dry – add a splash of water or stock if this happens.
5. Use a stick blender or potato masher to blend until smooth. Or, pour into a blender a cup or two at a time and whizz until smooth. Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed.
6. Adjust thickness if required by adding a little more stock, hot water, cream or milk.
7. To serve, ladle into bowls and then add your choice of toppings and breads if desired.