RUTABAGA & TURNIP SOUP WITH MISO, TAHINI, & GINGER
12/12/19 — Ada Broussard
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
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!