Roasted Harvest Soup

To roast the vegetables:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Cut your acorn squash in half, very carefully. Scoop out seeds and throw them away. Cut the halves in half so that you have quarters. Place them into a shallow baking dish and fill with enough water to come up the sides of the squash by 1/4″. Cover the dish with parchment paper as well as tin foil and set aside.

3. Next, cut onion, carrots and parsnips into medium sized chunks and put them in a large bowl. Toss them with the olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and 1/4 teaspoon of sage. Spread the mixture onto an ungreased/unlined baking sheet so that it’s in a single layer.

4. Place acorn squash and the sheet pan of vegetables into your 400 F oven and roast:
– The squash takes about 45 minutes. When it’s done you want it to be fork tender.
– The vegetables take about 50 minutes. When done you want them cooked through, tender and golden brown. Toss and flip around every 20 minutes or so.

5. Remove everything from oven and allow to cool enough to handle.

For the soup:
1. In a large 4 1/2 quart stock pot add your roasted veggies. Make sure you get any and all of the golden brown deliciousness that’s stuck to the pan too. This has lots of flavor. Scoop out the cooked and cooled acorn squash flesh and add to pot as well. Discard the skin.

2. Next, add your garbanzo beans and chicken stock and turn flame on to medium high.

3. Stir around ingredients and add your 1/2 teaspoon measurement of dried sage, as well as thyme, tarragon, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil turn down heat and gently simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

4. Finally, remove the pot from the heat and carefully blend everything together using a hand (or stick) blender. If you do not have one of these, feel free to use a regular blender or food processor. If you do this, just be careful because everything is very hot! Also, if using a blender or food processor, only fill the blender halfway full with soup (at a time). If you add more than this, your hot soup could explode out of your blender! That’s why I use a hand/stick blender—you just blend right in the pot! Puree completely until perfectly smooth.

Serve hot and garnish with a drizzle more of good quality olive oil.

Notes:
– Feel free to substitute a good mushroom or vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock for a vegetarian and vegan alternative!
– If the consistency is too thick for your liking, feel free to dilute with a bit more stock or even water.
– Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
– Freeze leftovers in small portions in an airtight container for up to two months. Defrost overnight in fridge before reheating in a pot on the stove.