This is a seriously basic recipe for a roast veg soup and sauce base that requires no onions or garlic but tastes amazing. It’s a use what you have and it’ll be fabulous recipe. I’ve made this base work as both a soup and a pasta sauce.
Roast Veg Soup and Sauce Base
What do you do when you find you have almost nothing left in the veg drawer and are possibly beginning to panic about what’s for dinner. Get creative, that’s what. Use what you have.
I’ve always started my savoury recipes with the good old onion saute and adding garlic. Well this time the cupboard was bare in the aliums department so I had to do without my stalwart flavour pairing.
Roast Veg Soup and Sauce Base
What veg?
As you can see from the photo above all I had was some cauliflower, half each of red, yellow and green peppers and some broccoli. Not much to go on really. Chuck the whole lot onto a baking tray. Then I sprinkled over some smoked paprika and sea salt and olive oil.
Method;
I poured over a good glug of olive oil and massaged it into the veggies. Get your hands in there making sure every veggie gets its fair share of that Mediterranean goodness.
Then popped it into the oven at 200C for about 20 minutes. I wanted it a bit gnarly and cooked through.
Roast veg soup and sauce base
Pull all the veg and juices together and scoop into your food processor and blitz to a pulp. Okay, so it’s not altogether attractive. But let’s face it folks, looks ain’t everything!
Soup
To make the veggie soup I simply used half of my roast veg soup and sauce base and merely added a tin of tomatoes to it. Brought up to a simmer for 20 minutes and that was it. A hearty bowl of soup with plenty of flavour.
Make it go further
Need it to stretch further or just want it thicker? Then throw in some lentils or rice if you have them at the beginning of the cooking time.
Pasta sauce
Use the remaining roast veg soup and sauce base to make this simple pasta sauce.
Just add one thing
I added a good splash of Worcestershire sauce to this pasta sauce when I was heating it up.
Finally, I served it with spaghetti and some parmesan grated on top and everyone enjoyed it. They didn’t even notice it wasn’t the usual bolognese sauce containing minced beef.
Roast Veg Soup and Sauce Base
What’s the secret?
By roasting those veggies you enhance all their flavours and intensify them. I found that the roasting created enough flavour (remember to scoop up all those juices from the roasting pan, gnarly bits and all) to compensate for lack of the usual onions and garlic.
How long will this keep?
This will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three days.
Can you freeze it?
Yes, scoop it into a freezer bag, label clearly and flat pack in the freezer for up to three months.
Check out my 50 Homemade Pantry Staples post for more great ideas for store cupboard basics and making the most of what you have.
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Roast Veg Soup and Sauce Base
Ingredients
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1/2 red red pepper
- 1/2 yellow pepper
- 1/2 cauliflower
- 1/2 broccoli
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C
- Roughly chop the peppers and place in an oven try
- Chop the cauliflower and broccoli stems and all and add to the tray
- sprinkle on the seasonings and add olive oil
- use your hands to rub in all the oil and seasonings
- Roast for approximately 30 minutes until cooked through and a bit gnarly
- Cool then blitz in a food processor
To use
- Use base for soup by adding a tin of tomatoes, thicken with lentils or rice if required, simmer for approx 20-30 minutes
- Use as a sauce for pasta by adding about 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce and heat for 10 mins
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