Making space (Root vegetable soup)

Making space (Root vegetable soup)

This year for me has been about making space.

Quitting my job, I had no idea what would fill it, only a sense that if I could make the space, I would figure it out. The space has allowed me to listen more – to my family, to my own creative process, to nature.

This season asks for space. Reflecting on the year, and making space for what's to come. Making space for the gifts I've received and listening to where they fit in my life.

I start in the kitchen and open the refrigerator, where old root vegetables, ginger, and homemade Japanese curry paste feel like Making Space Soup to me.

Recipe as feeling: Making space (Root vegetable soup)

Open your refrigerator and pantry.

Feel what’s ready to move and transform.
Choose something with flavor and something with substance.

In my case, fresh ginger plus curry paste from Sonoko Sakai and Tejal Rao’s NYT recipe (adapted for a vegan, gluten-free friend by substituting coconut oil and chickpea flour for the butter-flour roux) and carrots, turnip, parsnip.
Chop the vegetables roughly.

Saute them together with whatever’s adding flavor, plus salt.
Deglaze with liquid.

Sake seemed right here, and wine, vermouth, or rice vinegar would work too. Add water or stock to cover. I added miso paste and a splash of soy sauce. Simmer about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Cool and blend.

You don’t have to blend the soup if you don’t want this extra step; just chop your veggies more evenly and bite-sized, and maybe add a grain or a green if you’re taking the not-blended route.
Warm, and eat with whatever feels like a good complement.

An herb maybe, or in my case, some not-quite-stale savory granola.