Rutabaga and Avocado Soup — Une soupe au rutabaga et à l’avocat

by Béa

Rutabaga and Avocado Soup, with chorizo

P. woke up with a headache.

“I had too much wine last night,” he said looking quite sleepy when he walked into the living room.

A few friends had come for dinner the night before, so this did not really surprise me.

“Did you know that we were going into daylight savings today?” he then added.

No, I didn’t. We had in fact both forgotten, and so had our friends.

Sunday thus started quite funnily: noon arrived although we felt it could still only be 10 am, unsettling us for the rest of the day to say the least. With the amount of food I had prepared the previous days, I actually really did not feel like preparing much of anything. But then I knew that we would get hungry later in the day, so I dragged myself into the kitchen and paused for a second to think about easy possibilities.

I would make soup — now you will really think that this is pretty much all we eat, won’t you?

But it is true that in cases like this one, all I actually crave for is the simplest foods, when I can taste each ingredient. Soups typically fall into this category.

Since I had purchased a few rutabaga, I decided to use them in my soup.

I think that like parsnip or celeriac, rutabaga is a far too often forgotten vegetable. While many would not know what to do with it, others would also have bad memories of its taste. But like many root vegetables, it has much too offer. Think a tasty vegetable very low in saturated fat and cholesterol, a good source of Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus; a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese: wonderful nutrients to give you a boost of energy, a vegetable excellent sauteed, or used to flavor vegetable broths and mixed in soups.

My soup used two fairly large rutabaga roots along with a bunch of fava beans — frozen at this time of year — zucchini, potato and celery branch. I made it with a homemade vegetable broth prepared a few days before, and once the soup was cooked, I mixed in half of an avocado to give it a little creaminess and keep the soft yellow-green color of the soup. Cheerful and scrumptious!

Topped with fried slices of Spanish chorizo, it made an excellent late Sunday lunch for us, leaving plenty more for later in the day if we felt like it.

Take my word, it is the kind of food that does not involve too much thinking, but still feeds healthily well, especially on days when you start on the wrong foot.

After one bowl of soup each, rhubarb and berry crumbles completed our meal.

“Thank God for leftovers,” I thought to myself. Always nice when your head is functioning in slow mode.

PS: You might have noticed the new design of my blog, which will be complete in a few weeks when I finish a few pages (links and recipe index). Until this is done, bear with me! It might not be perfect for a short while — will it ever be?

Posted in Gluten Free, Soup

47 comments

  1. La nouvelle présentation de ton blog est vraiment très sympa !
    … où sont les liens des autres blogs de cuisine ?

  3. Hi Béa! I am your fan, and already done some of your recipes (framboises & peaches jam was a sucess) but most of all, as a photographer, I admire your amazing work in photography. Concerning your new design, its nice … thanks for giving us your wonderful work in the Tartine Gourmande

    P.S.: I am also a gourmande AHAHAH

  4. It looks so beautiful, but again, I would never expect less from you. Lovely colors, getting ready for Spring. I love it!

  6. NO BODY can do it better than you. I have been a great fan since a couple of months.
    You are just simple amazing.

  7. Amazing!!! °_°
    I love a new theme of your blog, It does feel the spring 😉
    Last comment… Beautiful blog, recipes and photos!

    Ginger ~♥

  8. Il est très joli ce nouveau design, il va falloir que je songe à actualiser mon billet du we dernier, qui présentait justement votre blog avec l’image de votre ancienne bannière !

  11. I’ve been meaning to say thank you for the veggie broth. I tried it several weeks ago. Enjoyed it plain and then used it in some simple veggie soup. Most Excellent.
    This looks like love soup too.
    And I see you’ve brushed in Spring! Very nice!!

  12. Ce nouveau design te va comme un gant ! Bon courage avec les derniers réajustements techniques. Je suis toujours aussi fan !

  14. Du vert… du printemps… et un tout nouveau design… les beaux jours ne sont plus très loin… tant mieux car la journée a été bien bien grise…

  15. How very pretty! like a fresh shower…But I do admit I liked your old look as well. I thought it was rather stylish…
    :- )
    Shy

  19. I came upon your blog about a month ago and now visiting it has become part of my daily routine. Beautiful new look – lovely photos and delicious recipes as always. Thanks for sharing your many talents!

  22. I just LOVE your photographs, your cooking is a work of art! I found you at flickr and now found out about your blog! Keep it up, I admire your art very much (both cooking and photography)!

  23. It’s official…. you need to move to San Francisco and move in with me specifically so that on mornings when I wake up hungover and having lost an hour you can make me soup. That’s it. pack your bags!

  24. This sounds like a great introduction to spring time eating! I love aguacate and have some ready to be had… might be doing this! Thanks!

  26. that soup sounds absolutely delicious… a friend’s new year resolution was to eat more advocado so i might just have to try this to temp him…

    love the photos as always.

  27. New design and masthead, I love it and the color, I can smell spring just by coming here. Pictures are tooo beautiful as always. When get I get to your level?????

  29. What a pretty blog…Everything looks so fresh, so cute. Nice receipes, beautiful pictures and texts…You are a fantastic writer !!! Sweet colors, evrything is perfect !

  32. ouahhhhh c’est top beau chez toi !!! Ce design est vraiment génial, tout comme ce billet..quant a tes photos, je ne me lasserai jamais de les voir! biz

  33. Bea, the new look is lovely and refreshing. Getting ready for spring, are you? 🙂
    We have so much soup here at home (specially in wintertime) that our friends now they’ll have soup when coming around. Not that they ever complain!!

  34. Très joli nouveau décor! Et j’ai hâte de connaître ta recette!

  35. Un tres Beau Design, Béa! Parfait pour l’arrivée du printemps 😉
    Ca fait toujours du bien de changer, n’est ce pas? J’adore les fleurs!Ma touche préférée.

  38. J’adore le nouveau look et la guirlande de petits fleurs sur la photo est absolutly charming. Great job Bea 🙂

  41. Oh! surprise en ouvrant ta page, un nouveau site! Oui, ça sent le printemps. décidément on se sent bien chez toi. A+, Tristan

  42. Coucou! You’re blog is sooo beautiful! If you have written a cooking book with those lovely photos and recipies, I would love to buy it!

  43. Great new design, very fresh just like your recipes! bravo encore et encore 😉

  44. Many many thanks everyone. You are the best audience! I am glad you enjoy the new design. It is always risky to try new things when old ones have been working for you, right? I can tell you that it took me quite some time to finish it. I started SOOooooo long ago that I am now glad to have it finally done! Boum, fini ! And now, tell me, is it Spring yet???? I REALLY cannot wait! J’ai vraiment hâte, pas vous ?

  47. Tes photos sont vraiment extraordinaire ! Tous comme tes plats !
    Franchement un grand bravo, c’est une vraie réussite !
    Je ne m’en lasserais jamais !