Andrew Schloss's Slow Cooker Roasted Vegetable Soup
Long ago in a kitchen very much like yours someone cooked for hours at a time. She kneaded bread and rolled out pastry, and whenever the winds blew cold, she whipped up a pot of soup. Now homemade soup is considered so time-consuming that most home cooks never try, but that is exactly why soups are a cinch in a slow cooker. It is the only form of cooking that transforms long hours of barely simmering ingredients into a convenience. Although almost any soup recipe can be adapted to slow cooking, bean soups, vegetable soups, puréed soups, and long-simmering meat soups make the most sense.
As with all slow cooker recipes, soups start with less liquid than you would use in a soup pot on a stove top. For many of them the amount of liquid is not even enough to cover the solid ingredients. Don’t add more; as the soup simmers, juices will percolate from the vegetables and the bits of meat will enrich the broth deliciously.
The following recipe for roasted vegetable soup takes a little bit of prep time--about 30 minutes, but all of that is done in the oven--no standing by the stove (and the roasting can be done a day or two ahead if that works better for you). Roasting vegetables does more than simply cook them. It transforms them into something savory and sweet, meaty and voluptuous, not the sort of attributes one usually ascribes to produce. This otherwise straightforward vegetarian vegetable soup benefits from the transformation.
Feel free to alter the selection of vegetables to fit your taste and what you have on hand, but try to keep the volume of vegetables approximately the same. Like most soups, this one benefits from age. The flavor will improve after it sits for a day. Garnish it with grated cheese, if desired.
Roasted Vegetable Soup
From Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes by Andrew Schloss, published by Chronicle Books
Ingredients:
2 onions, cut into 1-inch dice
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
8 white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
4 large cloves garlic, whole and unpeeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups vegetable broth, divided
1 can (about 15 ounces) diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted, with their juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons couscous, preferably whole wheat
Directions:
1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the onions, carrots, celery, turnip, bell pepper, sweet potato, mushrooms, and garlic with olive oil on a large rimmed sheet pan. Spread out into an even layer and roast for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned at the edges.
2. Scrape the vegetables into a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Pour 1 cup of the vegetable broth onto the sheet pan and scrape up any browned bits clinging to it; scrape into the cooker. Add the remaining 5 cups broth, the diced tomatoes and their liquid, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme, cover the cooker and cook for 2 to 3 hours on high, or 4 to 6 hours on low, until the flavors are blended.
3. Stir in the couscous and parsley and cook for 5 minutes more.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
jsallison on January 16, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Needs some meat...;)
laura on January 18, 2009 at 03:09 PM
I am making this soup right now and it is making my entire house smell delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe.
Anonymous on January 18, 2009 at 11:28 PM
After making veggie stock in my slow cooker today, I was casting about for a recipe and came across this one. The soup is just now finished---delectable and beautiful.
Ray Torres on January 26, 2009 at 02:43 AM
WOW!, Nice vegetable soup recipe! If interested, I found other nice slow cooker recipes at http://greatcrockpotrecipes.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!