The French Autumn Soup You've Been Looking For
Looking for a fantastic first-course soup for an autumn/winter gathering? Potage purée de legumes, people! Especially when made with local, in-season root veggies and the "secret weapon."
Potage purée de légumes—puréed vegetable soup—is one of those first-course soups you often spot at mom-and-pop country inns and corner bistros in France. At less-passionate venues, they can be somewhat ordinary—poured, I suspect, from cartons purchased in bulk at warehouse stores (yes, even France has those).
But when you see the word maison after a menu entry for the soup, you know you’re in for a treat. Maison literally means “house” or “home,” but on menus, it refers to a dish that’s proudly homemade—something on which the house stakes its reputation. That’s when you know you’re going to taste a true soupe du jour—a soup freshly made that day from the best vegetables the kitchen could find.
While you can certainly make a meal out of this with a flatbread or sandwich, I prefer serving it as a first-course soup to a meal with friends. It’s a wonderful way to ease into dinner. And it can be made in advance and reheated, of course!
Puréed Roasted Vegetable Soup
Note: I like to reserve some of the roasted vegetables and serve them atop the soup for an eyecatching clue as to what’s in the purée.
Makes 8 first course or side-dish servings, or 4 main-dish servings.
8 cups vegetables cut into 1-inch chunks (use a selection of carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, red bell peppers, celery, turnips, and/or yellow potatoes, including at least 2 root vegetables; peel if needed)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth OR 6 cups of water and 2 tablespoons Better Than Boullion Roasted Vegetable Base*
Snipped fresh parsley and/or chives (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Spread the vegetables and onion in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet (if they don’t fit in a single layer on one sheet, use two). Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned, about 25 minutes. (You do not need to stir the vegetables.) If using two baking sheets, rotate their oven positions after about 15 minutes. Cool the vegetables slightly.
3. Reserve and dice a few chunks of veggies for a garnish, if you like. Working in batches, purée the roasted vegetables in a blender or food processor, adding the parsley to the first batch. Blend or process until smooth (if you don’t know how to do this safely, see this article); if needed, you can add 1/2 cup of the broth to each batch to help the mixture purée more easily (I find this is especially necessary when using a blender).
4. Transfer the puréed vegetables to a 4-quart pot. Stir in the remaining broth. Heat the soup over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
5. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each serving with snipped fresh parsley and/or chives, if you like. Top with a few roasted vegetables, if desired.
*This is my “secret weapon.” I love the depth of flavor that the vegetable base offers—plus, it makes the soup work well for my vegetarian guests.
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