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| Root Chakra Soup |
Spring can have us bouncing around, whether you're spring cleaning, or finally enjoying the outdoors again, it's important to remember to stay grounded and since there's still a few cold days ahead, it's good to know that a comforting soup doesn't have to weigh you down. This soup is meant to nurture and heal your root chakra, attend to your most basic needs, and firmly plant you in your roots.
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch, or 4 medium sized red beets, de-stemmed
- 1 parsnip, cut into fourths
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 3-6 sprigs of thyme
- 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium carrots or 1 bunch baby carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1 sweet potato or yam, peeled and cubed
- 1 1/2 quart vegetable broth
- 1 small piece ginger root, peeled, sliced
- 1 garlic bulb (preferably elephant garlic since the elephant is the animal of the Root Chakra)
- olive oil
- Salt & pepper to season as you go
- *(white wine optional)
Equipment:
Submersion blender or Hand blender(if you like making soup at home, you should invest in a submersion blender. It saves a lot of mess, and it's much easier to make creamy, seamless soups)
Set your over to 450 degrees F.
Begin by cleaning your vegetables. Root vegetables can be covered in soil, and we don't need any real bits of earth getting into this soup.
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| Beautiful carrots from the farmer's market |
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| Beets, Parsip, Garlic, Thyme, Rosemary |
In a large pot, begin to saute onions with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, and a pinch of salt, over medium heat, until they begin to soften. If onions begin to brown, you can splash a bit of *white wine into the pot to decaramelize the pan. After 10-15 minutes, add the carrots and saute until soft, about 5-10 minutes.
To the pot, add the sweet potato, and half of the broth, bring to a simmer and cover until the broth reduces by 1/3, about 30 min.
By now, the beets should be ready. In a blender, blend the beet/garlic/parsnip mixture with the rest of the broth, until pureed. When the stock has reduced fully, add the beet puree to the pot, along with the ginger, 2-3 tbsp of olive oil, and 2-3 fresh cloves of fresh garlic. Blend everything into a fine puree with a hand blender, or by transferring 3 cups at a time into a blander. Be careful bending hot liquids. If you're using a regular blender, I suggest you let the soup cool somewhat before blending. Taste your soup, and add more garlic, ginger, salt, or olive oil to taste. Serve hot or cold.
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| Root Chakra Soup w/ hardboiled egg |
Toppings:
- Suggested topping for this 'borscht' is a boiled egg.
- My friend nicole preffered a squeeze of lemon and some shredded parmesean
- You can also roast some golden beets along with the other beets at the beginning and store them in the fridge while you prepare the soup. When you're ready, peel and thinly slice them for a great colorful topping.
