If you’ve been following us you will know that we have been fairly dedicated to using up everything that we have.  That means, as much as possible, we use the scraps of our veggies and if not edible, they get composted.  (Side note…proud parent moment…our seven year old has been trying desperately to master the use of that word- edible.  More often than not we get eatable.  This week he finally got it and seems to be using it all the time.  It has been the cutest thing to watch evolve.) Last week we had made braised rutabaga to go with some chicken.  We served this in perfectly cut squares which meant that we had a fair amount of “scraps” left over.  We popped them in the fridge and made a fantastic creamy rutabaga soup the next day.  Because we sometimes find rutabaga to be bitter we added some shredded parmesan to balance out the flavors.  Can I tell you how delicious this was? And with this Nor’easter / blizzard due to arrive tomorrow I am even more excited that we placed a few servings in freezer proof bags for later dates…aka tomorrow.

Ingredients:

2 cups rutabaga scraps

1 cup combined: celery, carrots and shallot (chopped)

salt & pepper to taste

pinch of good saffron

chicken stock (preferably home made- enough to cover vegetables in small soup pot)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

splash sherry vinegar

Method:

Place all ingredients in a small soup pot and simmer until beyond tender, about 30 minutes. Puree in blender or with emulsifier.  Add cream and mix again.  Add a touch of sherry vinegar to taste.  Season with dried thyme and parmesan cheese.