Creamy Root Vegetable Soup

In November of 2011 we attended the Great River Wine Trail along the Mississippi River.  One of our stops included the Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette, IA. Upon arrival, they served us a wonderful Creamy Root Vegetable Soup & paired it with their semi-sweet Volga Lake Blush wine.  The soup was very interesting to me because it was something I had never tried before. It was comforting, nourishing & so rich we thought there was cheese in it. All I could think about was making this back at home on a cold winter night.  Note: We are really not sure if this recipe is as good as we thought it was because it was a long journey that day with many stops & many sips & many snacks throughout the day.  Also, some sips were bigger than others.  If it does not taste well at least we have the wine!

Creamy Root Vegetable Soup

1 lb. turnips

1 lb. rutabagas

1 lb. carrots

1 lb. parsnips

1 lb. yellow onions

1 lb. yams or sweet potatoes

Salt to taste

Prepared Dry Soup Base – see separate recipe below

Peel & cut all root vegetables in to ¾ “ cubes.  In a large stock pot, place all prepared vegetables. Cover with water. Salt to taste. Cook until tender.  Drain, reserving 6 cups of vegetable broth. 

Using an immersion blender or a regular blender puree the vegetables to the smoothness you wish (or use a potato masher for real chunky soup).  Place 2 cups of the dry soup base mix with the reserved vegetable broth in the stock pot). Stir over medium heat until thickened. Add the blended vegetables… heat & serve hot. 

Dry Cream Soup Base

2 cups instant non-fat dry milk powder

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup instant chicken bullion

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp black or white pepper

1 tsp crushed basil

1 tsp dried thyme

Combine all ingredients & mix well.  Makes 3 cups of dry soup base, store in air-tight container; does not need refrigeration when storing.  This can be used with future recipes that require condensed cream soup. 

To use soup base: combine 1/3 cup of the dry soup base mix with 1 cup of water in saucepan (this is comparable to 1 can of soup). Stir over medium heat until thickened.  For richer soup add 1 Tbs. butter.

Tupps Tidbits ~ If you do not have an immersion blender do not use a regular blender to puree it does not work.  I went with the potato masher.

This is a very wholesome, low calorie, healthy soup.  At first taste, for the 2^nd time, I thought this was a very “earthy” soup…guess that makes sense with all “root” veggies.  It was not exactly the way we remembered it & maybe a different time of year with fresher veggies could make the difference.  This is NOT A KEEPER for us, but we highly recommend if you are in the Marquette area to stop in at the Eagles Landing & meet Roger & Connie & enjoy some of their wines.

Next Week ~ Top Secret Famous Dave’s Corn Muffins