Stone Soup, or Root Vegetable Stew

The inspiration behind this root stew is the folk story, "Stone Soup"-- a couple of travelers arrive into a town with nothing more than a large cooking pot. They fill it with water, add a stone and tell everyone that this delicious "Stone Soup" needs nothing more than a little garnish. With that little clever maneuvering, they get the whole town to pitch in and add ingredients (a end of an onion, a nub of a potato) and build a beautiful, rich soup to share.

The amounts of the ingredients are intentionally vague-- it's all "a little of this, a little of that." Follow this recipe more like loose guidelines: it provides plenty of opportunity for your influence and creativity, and maybe you can invite over your neighbors to add something in and share a little at the end.

 4 vegetable stock
Any combination of the following root vegetables:
 Turnips, Rutabaga, Parsnips, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Celery Root (or chopped celery stalk)
 Dried thyme or oregano
 Minced garlic
 Salt and pepper
 Fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
 0.50 lb fresh spinach (optional)
Optional: Roux
 2 tbsp butter
 2 tbsp flour
 0.50 cup milk, cream or half n' half

1

Set your oven to 350 degrees. Peel and chop the vegetables into similar sizes, and toss in a little olive oil. Roast for 35 minutes, tossing occasionally to assure that they do not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour, but check after about 35-45 minutes to see if any are softening quicker than others (and pop them in the soup pot so they all cook evenly.)

2

Heat the vegetable stock in a large pot. Add dried herbs and garlic.

3

Splash the roasting pan with some of the vegetable stock, and scrape it all into the pot for some caramelized flavor.

4

Optional roux add-in: Add 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp flour to the veggie roasting pan set over medium high heat on the stove top (only if you used a stovetop and oven-safe pan. Otherwise, just make in a separate pot.) Whisk the flour and butter together until it foams. Lower the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 cup of liquid from the stock pot or part stock-part milk or half and half for a creamier stew. Raise the heat to medium high. Thicken while whisking for about 7-8 minutes, and then add it to the soup pot.

5

Right before you serve, remove the soup from heat and stir in the spinach and parsley.

Ingredients

 4 vegetable stock
Any combination of the following root vegetables:
 Turnips, Rutabaga, Parsnips, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Celery Root (or chopped celery stalk)
 Dried thyme or oregano
 Minced garlic
 Salt and pepper
 Fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
 0.50 lb fresh spinach (optional)
Optional: Roux
 2 tbsp butter
 2 tbsp flour
 0.50 cup milk, cream or half n' half

Directions

1

Set your oven to 350 degrees. Peel and chop the vegetables into similar sizes, and toss in a little olive oil. Roast for 35 minutes, tossing occasionally to assure that they do not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour, but check after about 35-45 minutes to see if any are softening quicker than others (and pop them in the soup pot so they all cook evenly.)

2

Heat the vegetable stock in a large pot. Add dried herbs and garlic.

3

Splash the roasting pan with some of the vegetable stock, and scrape it all into the pot for some caramelized flavor.

4

Optional roux add-in: Add 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp flour to the veggie roasting pan set over medium high heat on the stove top (only if you used a stovetop and oven-safe pan. Otherwise, just make in a separate pot.) Whisk the flour and butter together until it foams. Lower the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 cup of liquid from the stock pot or part stock-part milk or half and half for a creamier stew. Raise the heat to medium high. Thicken while whisking for about 7-8 minutes, and then add it to the soup pot.

5

Right before you serve, remove the soup from heat and stir in the spinach and parsley.

Stone Soup, or Root Vegetable Stew

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