RUTABAGA RECIPE: Rutabaga Sweet Potato Soup

Rutabaga Sweet Potato Soup

VEGETABLES:

1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded (for garnish, but you’ll have leftovers)

1 head garlic

2 cups rutabaga, peeled and diced

1½ cups sweet potato, peeled and diced

Oil

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub squash with oil and place cut-side down on a roasting pan. Cut the top off the head of garlic and remove the papery skin, reserving the skin on the cloves themselves. Drizzle with oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on the same baking sheet.

Coat the rutabaga sweet potato in oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add these to the baking sheet.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until everything is golden soft, and well-roasted. Allow garlic to cool a bit before opening the foil package.

SOUP:

½ onion, chopped

Roasted sweet potatoes (from above)

Roasted rutabaga (from above)

½ cup cashews

2 cups water, more if needed

1 bouillon cube

1 pinch nutmeg

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Roasted garlic (from above, as much as the whole head if you’re brave)

Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the head and reserve the paste. If you’re not using all of it, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray and add it to recipes as you wish.

Saute onion until very soft and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Blend all of the above ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. If you’re worried your blender will not blend the nuts completely, you can sub soy or coconut milk for the water and skip the nuts, and/or strain the soup. It’ll taste a little different, but it’ll still be delicious. Add water as desired to get preferred thickness.

GARNISH: optional

¼ cup pepitas

¼ cup roasted spaghetti squash (see above)

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 pinch salt

Oil

Heat a small amount of oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Add pepitas and cook until browned. Be careful, they may pop and fly around while cooking. Remove to a bowl to stop the cooking and set aside.

Scrape out the roasted spaghetti squash into bowl with a fork. Roll the strands in a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Replace squash in the bowl, add a pinch of salt and the flour and mix well.

Heat a cast-iron pan over very high heat with some oil. Spread out spaghetti squash in a thin, lacy layer and let brown on both sides until crisp. Drain on a paper towel.

Yield: Serves 2.

Source: teenytinyturkey at flickr.com.

Tags: sweet potato, features, food, recipes, rutabaga, soup