A beautiful bowl of soup featuring none other than your neighborhood rutabaga and turnip.

 

Photo and recipe by Mackenzie Smith.

This soup is inspired by the thick paste at the bottom of a jar of tahini -- the stuff you wish you had thought to mix in to the rest of the jar when you first opened it. I had already planned to make a pureed soup with the turnips and rutabaga in our CSA last week before I spotted that jar of tahini in my fridge, and it dawned on me that throwing a tahini puck into a blender with soft braised root vegetables and stock would make much more sense than trying to get the right consistency if I used it to make hummus.

Smoky tahini and salty-sweet miso do a beautiful job of wrangling any bitterness from the rutabaga and turnip in this silky, pureed soup which is gracefully pulled together with one pear, garlic and ginger.

This soup makes a lot (8-10 servings), so if you’re not up for a week’s worth of it, freeze some of it for later, or halve the recipe.

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 2-inch nub of ginger, grated
• 4 large rutabaga and/or turnips, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 1 pear or apple, sliced
• ¼ cup tahini
• 3 tablespoons white miso
• 1 13.5 ounce can full fat coconut milk
• 1 quart stock or water
• ¼ teaspoon of lemon zest
• salt to taste

In a large pot, saute garlic and ginger in hot olive oil until you can begin to smell it, (30-45 seconds) before adding rutabaga and/or turnips and apple or pear. Cook on medium-high heat until root vegetables start to soften, then add coconut milk, stock, and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables can be easily pierced with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a blender with miso, tahini, and lemon zest. Blend until smooth; add water if needed. Salt to taste.

Optional toppings/add-ins: chili oil or hot sauce, a squeeze of lemon or lime, chopped parsley or cilantro, toasted nuts and seeds, roasted vegetables, chopped pickles, potato chips, crackers, pesto, a drizzle of nice olive oil. The list could go on and on! I can’t think of a savory bit that wouldn’t go well here -- survey your fridge and pantry and get creative!