Recipe: Rustic Vegetable Soup, Creamy Root Vegetable Soup and Root Vegetable Puree with

RUSTIC VEGETABLE SOUP

1 medium yellow or red waxy potato (6 to 7 ounces), peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced crosswise (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 small celery root (7 to 8 ounces), peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced crosswise (3/4 cup)
1 medium leek, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
2 medium parsnips, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise (1/2 cup)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or extra virgin olive oil)
3/4 cup water
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or water)
Freshly ground white pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

In medium saucepan, combine potato, celery root, leek, parsnips, garlic, salt, sugar, butter and water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes, or until water has almost evaporated.

Add chicken broth, return to a simmer, cover, and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Adjust seasoning and stir in white pepper to taste.

Just before serving, stir in parsley.

IMPROVISATIONS:

CREAMY ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP:
"If you make the rustic root vegetable soup with butter and puree it, it becomes an exquisite crema, an elegant creamy soup, due to the preliminary braising of the vegetables with some fat. Additional cream only gilds the lily."

Prepare rustic root vegetable soup. Puree soup in batches in a blender. Or, if using a food processor, let it run at least 2 minutes.

Rinse out the saucepan and strain soup into it. Adjust seasoning, adding a few scrapings of freshly ground nutmeg. If desired, drizzle each serving with a swirl of heavy cream or stirred creme fraiche or a few drops of white truffle oil.

ROOT VEGETABLE PUREE WITH VANILLA:
You can turn your soup into a side dish. In a medium saucepan, combine yellow or red waxy potato, small celery root, leek, parsnips, salt, sugar, unsalted butter, and 1/3 cup water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes, or until the water has almost evaporated.

Add 3/4 cup milk and 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out, bean and seeds added to the pan (or use the freshly scraped pod of a vanilla bean, if you have one). Bring back to a simmer, cover, and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

Place a strainer over a bowl and drain vegetables, reserving cooking liquid. Discard vanilla pod. Puree vegetables in a food processor 3 minutes, using 1-2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid if necessary to thin the puree. (Alternatively, you can pass the vegetables through a food mill.)

Return to saucepan, stir in up to 1/4 cup half-and-half and an additional 1-2 teaspoons butter, and adjust the seasoning.

Makes 4 servings
Source: The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider