Creamy Vegetable Soup

After a two year Covid hiatus, we were privileged to join our children and their families for the last four days of Chanukah. Candle lighting was beautiful as each family member lit their own menorah. The flames danced and flickered in the darkness while we joined in singing Ma’oz Tzur, the Jewish liturgical poem or piyyut, celebrating our spiritual deliverance from our enemies. On Sunday we celebrated with a family Chanukah party. All the participants contributed to the prearranged menu, adding their own personal touch to the gathering.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

The meal began with a steaming bowl of creamy vegetable soup, lush and thick with a sprinkling of melting mozzarella cheese on top, a family favorite that my daughter prepared. I smiled at her when I tasted the soup and said that this recipe was going to appear next on my blog. Bemused she replied, “Good. Now we’ll finally have a recipe for this soup instead of just guessing”. Hmmm. Perhaps my directions for preparing this soup have been less than precise in the past. This recipe does allow for a certain amount of improvisation so you can treat these instructions as a good starting off point for your own version of this satisfying soup.

Assemble your ingredients. Peel and cube the vegetables into large cubes.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a ten-quart pot. Add the cubed onions and sauté over medium heat until they are translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute longer. Add the rest of  the cut-up vegetables and continue to sauté the vegetables for another five minutes, stirring from time to time. Add water to just cover the top of the vegetables and two tablespoons of consommé powder. (For the record, I measured 16 cups of vegetables and 12 cups of water in this batch of soup.) Bring the pot to a boil. Lower the heat to a medium simmer. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pop the lid on the pot and cook the soup for one hour until the vegetables can be pierced easily with a fork.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender. Season to taste. You may want to add a tad more liquid to the soup at this stage if it is too thick. Just go slow with the added liquid. You can always add liquid but it is difficult to take it away once you have added too much. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese if desired.

Print Recipe

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Soups and Salads

By Nanette – Serves: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 60 minutes – Total Time: 80 minutes

Vibrant orange in color, thick and lush creamy vegetable soup.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 roughly chopped yellow onions
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 Japanese yam, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (if you can't find one, just add another sweet potato)
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1-inch chunks
• 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons consommé powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a 10 quart pot. Add the cubed onions and sauté over medium heat until they are translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute longer. Add the rest of  the cut-up vegetables. Sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add water to just cover the top of the vegetables and two tablespoons of consommé powder. (For the record, I measured 16 cups of vegetables and 12 cups of water in this batch of soup.)

2

Bring the pot to a boil. Lower the heat to a medium simmer. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pop the lid on the pot and cook the soup for one hour until the vegetables can be pierced easily with a fork.

3

Blend the soup with an immersion blender. Season to taste. You may want to add more liquid to the soup at this point if it appears too thick. Just go slow with the added liquid. You can always add liquid but it is difficult to take it away once you have added too much. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese if desired.