Rootin’ for Rugabaga and the 6ers Winter Stew

Rootin’ for Rugabaga and the 6ers Winter Stew

Vegan, rutabaga, winter greens, coconut cream, sorghum, lentils, gluten-free

I’m in love with soups and stews.

In the summer I won’t touch soups with a ten-foot pole, but come autumn, it’s a completely different story. Most of October and early November I’ve been in full-on soupbender mode. It yielded some interesting results. In full disclosure, most of my soups end up on the stewy-end of consistency. This is intentional as when I have a thin delicate broth or light soups, I feel like I need to add another course to the meal to balance it out and feel satiated. But with a thick, chunky, hearty bowl of yum-yum, it becomes the main show meal and gets full feature status. Win win! This is a bit of a one-off, inspired by the flavours Angela Liddon’s Oh How She Glows vegan styles soup bases, creating my own bippity-POW from that concept. I had some gorgeous organic rutabagas that I was dying to use in something, and this is the brainchild of that…and all the other veggies I could envision tossing in for a little romp from my recent CSA delivery…eagerly awaiting in the fridge to have a place my heart…and belly. Try some of your own substitutions if you like, this vegetable base is forgiving.

Let’s get our cooking groove on!

Course: Soup, Mains

Prep time: 15 min.

Cooking time: 1 hour+

Total time: 1.5 hours

Servings: 9-10

Batch total: ~3L

Author: Cova Raine

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp. coconut oil

1 medium white onion, chopped in 1 cm/1/2 inch-sized chunks

3 cups of chopped carrots, in coins

~3 c chopped cubed rutabaga (~1 medium), in roughly 1 cm/1/2 inch square

~2 cups, loosely packed each of dinosaur kale, curly kale, and nappa cabbage, chopped into bite-sized pieces (this translates to about 6-8 leaves of each veg)

6 large cremini or white mushrooms, chopped into quarters

5 cups of water

1 cup of green lentils, rinsed

½ cup of sorghum grains, soaked overnight (if you get the chance, highly recommended)

1 can of coconut cream (400 ml/14 oz)

1 can of crushed tomatoes (400 ml/14 oz)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp granulated garlic

2 scant tsp ground red pepper flakes (or use 1-2 tsp chili powder, to your heat preference)

¼ c finely chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Slow consistent simmering will give the richest flavours for soups and stews.

METHOD:

STEP 1: In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. When it gets hot enough to sizzle onions, add the onions and sauté until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

STEP 2: Add in the carrots and rutabaga, stir for another few minutes and then add 3 cups of water. Cook for 5 minutes, adding in the sorghum and lentils. Add the rest of the water, coconut cream, spices, canned tomatoes, and simmer on medium until soup begins to boil, then reduce to medium-low.

STEP 3: Add mushrooms and continue cooking. After 20-25 minutes of cooking, add in the greens and continue to cook on low, until greens are wilted and lentils are cooked (about 15-20 minutes).

STEP 4: I like to turn my soup down low to simmer for another 30 minutes for flavours to marry. Mix in parsley to soup a few minutes before serving, and enjoy!

STEP 5: If you want to package some of this soup up for a later date or to freeze, check out my blog post on how to batch cook soups and stews.

KITCHEN NOTES:

Soups and stews are super flexible and forgiving. Feel inspired to use what you have available in your pantry.

if sorghum is unavailable, feel free to use pearl barley, or a handful of rolled oats to thicken the soup…or you can omit altogether. No need to pre-soak.
Red lentils could be substituted for green
Tomato soup or a small can of tomato paste (4 oz) could be substituted for the canned tomatoes
If you have other hearty greens you want to use instead, use your creativity! Just be aware that the more dense the vegetable, the more time it will need to cook—so you may need to frontload some more dense vegetables for a longer cook time
Remember that soups and stews often taste better on their second day+, so feel free to make it in the a.m. for dinner, or a weekend batch cook that will take you through the week
This is how I batch cook soup and backstock for a later day: see article