11.01.12_Roasted Veggie Soup with Herb Dumplings

Phillip found a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Soup with Herb Dumplings and immediately added it to our "must try" list. Growing up in Ohio, I guess he had a fair share of chicken and dumplings as a kid (a dish that to this day I still have not had) so needless to say he was excited to have dumplings again.

I'm not gonna lie, this soup took a fair amount of work. None of it was hard by any means, but it definitely took time since I had to roast all the vegetables first, then blend them, simmer the puree, then make the dumplings. The end result was well wroth the effort though. The recipe makes a TON of soup. I gave some of the leftovers to my vegetarian cousin Hannah and we still have more than we know what to do with. So I highly recommend cutting the recipe in half, or freezing half of it for another time.

Roasted Veggie Soup with Herb Dumplings
Adapted from The Kitchn

For the soup:

• 1 medium butternut squash (I bought already peeled and cubed)
• 3 carrots
• 2 medium daikon radishes (The recipe called for parsnips but Whole Foods didn't have any)
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 large leeks
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• Extra virgin olive oil
• S&P
• Chile powder
• 7 cups veggie stock
• 1 bay leaf 

For the dumplings:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 TBSP oregano
• 1 TBSP parsley
• 1 TBSP thyme
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400º. Peel and chop the butternut squash, carrots, radishes, and sweet potato into large chunks. Chop the white and light green part of the leek into large chunks as well. Peel and quarter the onion and leave the garlic cloves in their skin. Toss all the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkling of chili powder. Spread veggies onto baking sheets and roast for 30-40 minutes. 

2. After the veggies are roasted, remove the garlic from their skins. Blend the veggies a little at a time until they are well pureed, adding veggie stock as necessary to make the puree nice and smooth. I used an immersion blender for this but I'm sure a regular blender would work equally as well.

3. Add the remainder of the stock to the puree and bring to a boil in a large stock pot. Lower heat and simmer.

4. While the soup is simmering, prepare the dumplings. Thoroughly mix all dry ingredients. Add the butter to the mixture and use your fingers to mix the butter in. You don't want big clumps of butter. Keep massaging the mixture until it is well incorporated. Add the milk and fresh herbs and stir until combined. 

5. Drop TBSPs of the dough into the soup. Cover the pot and let simmer for 10 minutes or so until the dumplings are cooked.