Roasted Cauliflower & Rutabega Soup.

I got married in June, and one of my {our!} favorite wedding gifts is a beautiful blue Le Creuset dutch oven. I am in soup research mode only because I want to use this beautiful pot. Good thing it's the perfect time of year!

We are also still trying to use up CSA vegetables, which turned this particular version into a rutabega soup with a few carrots thrown in for good measure. This is a very earthy and hearty soup recipe, and could easily be made vegan by leaving out the cheese and using vegetable broth.

Roasted Cauliflower & Rutabega Soup
1 and 1/4 heads cauliflower
1 rutabega
1 yellow onion
1 shallot
2 carrots
4 celery stalks
4 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup smoked cheddar cheese
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons thyme
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Salt, to taste

How to:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Chop the cauliflower florets and peel and chop the rutabega. Dice the garlic, and mix it with the chopped cauliflower and rutabega. Toss with 1 Tablespoon olive oil and season with black pepper and salt. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
2. While the vegetables are roasting, finely chop the onion, shallot, celery, and carrots. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion, shallot, celery and carrots until soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Pour the chicken broth into your soup pot. When the vegetables are done roasting, carefully pour them into the dutch oven and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer on low for 25 minutes {with the lid on}.
4. Use an immersion {or regular} blender to puree the soup after it's done simmering and the vegetables are soft. After the soup is pureed, stir in the grated cheese until smooth. 

The colorful mixture will look something like this while simmering:

{Adapted from Roasted Cauliflower & Cheddar Soup by two peas & their pod}