Root Vegetable Soup with Honey and Sage

Todd is taking good care of me, to be sure. He is such a good husband. He is not much of a cook though . . .

Thankfully, I cooked up a pot of this lovely soup before I started to feel so badly . . . rich and thick, and bursting with the natural sweetness of autumn root vegetables and deliciously creamy and nourishing honey. Soup is so very comforting when you are feeling a bit under the weather . . .

Sage and garlic add some final flavours that make this a very delicious soup indeed. Oh, isn't cooking so very magical?

I mean . . . on their own, these things are so so so, plain and simple . . . but married together in unique combinations, they become something very special indeed.

Enjoy!!

*Root Vegetable Soup with Honey and Sage*

Serves 4 to 6

This is a delicious soup. The honey helps to bring out the natural sweetness of the root vegetables. Very pretty with a garnish of drizzled cream and fresh sprigs of sage.

• 75g of unsalted butter (A generous 1/3 cup)
• 1 medium brown onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 medium parsnip, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 heaped Tablespoons of creamy honey
• 3 sprigs of sage, chopped, plus extra sprigs for serving
• 750ml of vegetable stock (3 cups) (I use Swiss Marigold powder diluted in boiling water)
• 75 ml of double cream, plus extra for drizzling (1/3 cup)
• freshly squeezed lemon juice
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place the butter into a large saucepan. Add the onion, carrot, parsnip and garlic. Stir to coat the vegetables with the butter, cover and then sweat over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove the cover and add the cubed sweet potato, honey and sage, giving it all a good stir. Cover and continue to sweat for another 10 minutes or so. Add the boiling stock and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes until all the vegetables are very tender. Remove from the heat. Using a stick blender puree the soup until smooth. If it is too thick you may have to add more vegetable stock to thin it a bit. Bring the soup back to the boil and then stir in the cream. Heat through without boiling any further. Season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Ladle into heated soup bowls. Drizzle a bit of cream over each and garnish with more sage leaves if desired.