Winter White Soup

This soup matches the weather today - we are blanketed in a cloud of white fog. It is almost eerie how quiet the fog makes the world become.

This is winter white soup because the veggies are all white but if you used carrots and turnip it could be a winter pale orange soup. Depends on what root vegetables you have lurking around. I give numbers and sizes for the root vegetables but any combination will work. Feel free to add potatoes. I don't because they aren't good for Corey's diabetes.


Your added salt will vary on the stock you use and the hot sauce is optional or can be adjusted based on your taste. I used sriracha hot sauce (the rooster hot sauce that you can buy anywhere - watch you don't get the version that is sold as "garlic hot sauce" unless you REALLY want to taste the garlic for days afterwards) but you could use sambal oelek or any other hot sauce as you wish. You could even use dried chilies. Be careful though - those dried chilies only require a small amount to make a dish very hot.

Winter White Soup
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large parsnips or 8 small parsnips peeled and sliced
1 medium celeriac (celery root) peeled and cubed
1 medium/large rutabaga peeled and cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup white wine
5 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a soup pot on medium heat and add the onions. Cook until they are becoming translucent, about 5 minutes. Toss in the root veggies and cover the pot. Let them steam and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir them occasionally to prevent them from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Stir in the wine and stock. Bring the soup to a boil and stir in the thyme. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and leave the soup for 20-30 minutes so that the veggies become soft. Blend in the blender (don't over fill the blender because it will explode with the heat) or with a immersion blender (no kitchen should be without one) so that it is smooth. You may need to add more stock or hot water to make the soup thinner depending on your preference. Stir in the hot sauce, salt and pepper.

This is yummy with a nice veggie sandwich of avocado, lettuce, cucumber and tomato. None of these are in season when the root veggies are but I get a bit tired of the seasonal winter veggies by February.