Nordic Winter Vegetable Soup

Nothing warms you up like soup.  I dislike eating soup in the summer because it makes me sweaty.  I do, however, get cold really easily and eating soup helps me avoid wearing gloves indoors in the winter.

I pulled this recipe out of Food & Wine magazine a couple of years ago and when CA said he wanted soup for dinner, I resurrected it.  I was home all day doing other things in the kitchen like making desserts and bread and more desserts so sticking a pot of soup on the stove was really easy.  Plus, I was excited to use a new ingredient.

This funky lookin' veg is celery root.  Celery root or Celeriac is a root vegetable in the celery family but it's not just the root of regular celery which is what I thought it was until this very minute when I looked it up on wikipedia.  Apparently this stuff grows wild in Northern Europe, hence "Nordic" soup but you have to go to fancy grocery stores to get it in the US... at least I did.  When you peel it, it smells exactly like regular celery and it tastes like it too, except without the stingy texture which is what I some people dislike about raw celery.

The original recipe uses celery root and parsnips which would have made this a very white dish (minus the spinach)... celery root, parsnips and barley all lack any sort of pigment.  However, my fancy grocery store was fresh out of parsnips and I refused to go to another store so a pop of orange carrots was in order.

I really enjoyed this soup!  I like that it's vegetarian, which CA and I try to do a couple of times per week - but it's still very filling.  The barley is super hearty and won't leave you starving 30 minutes later.  The celery root has a great celery flavor while giving the soup more substance than traditional celery would.  The onions and leeks add great flavor and I'm an all around fan of wilted spinach in my soup.  The thyme made CA ask why it smelled like Thanksgiving in the house and while I typically shy away from putting nutmeg in savory dishes, I went ahead and did it (although I cut the amount in half) which I think added just the tiniest bit of a warm spice to the soup.  This was the perfect meal for a cold winter night when I was too busy to worry about making something at the last minute.

Nordic Winter Vegetable Soup
Recipe from Food & Wine

Ingredients
2 T Olive Oil
1 Large Onion, thinly sliced
2 Leeks, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 cup Pearled Barley
8 cups Vegetable Broth
4 cups Water
10 Thyme Sprigs
2 Bay Leaves
1 1/2 lbs. Celery Root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb Parsnips or Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 lb. Baby Spinach
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Instructions

 In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onion, leeks and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the barley. Add the vegetable broth, water, thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the celery root and parsnips or carrots and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over moderately low heat until the barley and root vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. 

Stir in the spinach and nutmeg and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper as needed.  

Enjoy!
Julie