I love Soup.

The ability to create a tasty bowl of soup from leftovers or limited ingredients is the true test of a cook’s merit in my opinion. It’s also a great skill to learn so you can manage food waste and feed your family a nice home cooked meal that’s cheap but doesn’t feel like it. The recipe below is really easy and the concept of the recipe is a little more important than the ingredients that you use.

Roasted vegetable bisque with croutons and balsamic drizzle.

1. Acorn squash, medium-sized butternut squash, and 1-2 sweet potatoes depending on size
2. Olive oil, Salt and Pepper
3. 1.5 quarts of vegetable stock
4. 1 cup of oat milk
5. Crusty bread- preferably a day or so old and a little bit dried out

This version of the recipe has been made vegan but can be adjusted to fit your dietary preferences.

1. Roughly chop up your vegetables, your not looking for perfection here just the same general size across all 3 veggies so they cook at a similar time.
2. Place the vegetables on a roasting pan and drizzle with a 1TBS of olive oil and a TBS of Sea salt. with your hands give the vegetables a toss and make sure the oil and salt are distributed evenly.
3. Place in a 375-degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through and tender to the touch. Cooking time will vary on the size you cut the vegetables.
4. Allow the vegetables to cool for 5-10 minutes and transfer to a blender and add the stock. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Also, be sure to allow plenty of space and vent the lid to avoid a GIANT MESS when the steam builds up and blows the lid off the blender. I like a velvety smooth soup so we blended the soup for about two minutes.
5. Transfer the blended soup to a large soup pot and bring it back up to temperature. Add your milk of choice in the last 3-4 minutes of heating and mix thoroughly. Crank in about 8-10 cracks of fresh cracked black pepper and you’re ready to serve.
6. Fill up your soup bowls, top with the croutons and a drizzle of balsamic, and enjoy.

For the croutons. Start this process with about 15 minutes left in the cooking process for your vegetables

Chunk up a hand size’s worth of crusty bread like a baguette or focaccia into pieces twice the size of a dice. If the bread is a little old and dried out that’s even better. Heat 1.5 TBS worth of olive oil in a saute pan over medium-low heat and throw in the cubed bread. sautee the bread for 5-7 minutes and be sure to keep the bread moving often and pay attention to the heat so the bread doesn’t burn. Making croutons is a delicate balance of time and temp and I’d rather toast the bread at a lower temp for a longer period of time instead of burning the bread. Take the pan off of the burner and transfer it to the oven for another 5-7 minutes worth of cooking to finish developing color and crunch. The croutons are the most technically difficult step in this recipe and staying close and paying attention will result in some tasty crunchy croutons that will elevate the soup.