Miso Winter Vegetable Soup
Years ago I stored away the recipe for a beautiful parsnip soup. Creamy, smooth, and white as the driven snow… it was almost art. But when I made it, it had little flavor. Not so this Miso Winter Vegetable Soup!
Miso Winter Vegetable Soup
If you aren’t a miso initiate, you should find a nice recipe and give it a try (Miso Salmon Pasta is a super starter recipe). Miso is a fermented soy paste full of umami flavor. While many people promote the health value of all soy, others believe you should focus on fermented soy products like miso and tempeh. Not a problem with this Miso Winter Vegetable Soup.
Miso Winter Vegetable Soup from above
Every winter, I host a dinner for some of our farmer friends who keep us eating beautiful healthful food! When my guests arrived this year, I was treated to lots of awesome foodie presents—farm eggs and greenhouse spinach (which went into my Egg Lemon Soup with Spinach), sauerkraut, cabbage, craft beer, soaps and more. Then there was the homemade miso which went into this!
Turnips and parsnips
Roasted mushrooms and onions
Garlic, ready to roast
The inspiration for Miso Winter Vegetable Soup came from the blog Happy Hearted Kitchen. One thing I liked is that it uses water instead of broth—I do seem to have a perpetual broth shortage! I substituted turnips for the original cauliflower since their flavor is similar and, unlike cauliflower, turnips are happy to hole up in your basement fridge through winter. Then I doubled the mushrooms, since they were so delicious roasted in sesame oil and tamari. The only thing I needed to buy was mushrooms—not bad for early spring in Wisconsin!
Miso Winter Vegetable Soup, Served
- • 3 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (or a half head of cauliflower)
- • 3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- • 1 bulb garlic
- • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- • 2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms (or variety of your choice)
- • 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- • 1 ½ tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- • 2 tablespoons miso
- • 4 cups water
- • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- • 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil for garnish
- Preheat oven to 400 F / 200 C
- Roast the vegetables. Place turnips (or cauliflower) and parsnips in a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sea salt. Spread on a baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut off top (stem end) of the bulb just enough to expose the individual cloves. Wrap in aluminum and place on baking sheet with cauliflower and parsnips. Roast in the oven until veggies are soft and starting to caramelize, about 35-40 minutes. (Pierce with a knife to test.)
- While vegetables are cooking, prepare the mushrooms & onions. Drizzle the sliced mushrooms and onions with tamari & sesame oil, mixing gently to coat. Spread onto a second baking sheet and roast in the oven until golden and starting to crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm (or reheat later) while soup finishes.
- Place half of the roasted vegetables into the blender and cover with 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of miso. Unwrap the garlic from the tin foil and squeeze out the roasted cloves from their skins into the blender. Blend until smooth and pour into saucepan. Blend the remaining vegetables with final tablespoon of miso and another 2 cups of water, then add this to the saucepan. Stir in the apple cider vinegar. Heat the soup, taste and add tamari if needed.
- Spoon into serving bowls, then top with warm roasted mushroom & onion mixture and dot with additional sesame oil.
Hello,
When you say blend the vegetables, do you blend some of the mushrooms and onions too?
Can’t wait to make this!
The mushrooms and onions are for topping the finished soup, Kris, so don’t blend them with the vegetables. Hope you enjoy!
The vegetable soup you made looks delicious! I’ve made anything like this before but I’m going to give this a try. Hopefully it turns out great. Thanks for sharing this quick and easy recipe. Love the pics.
I hope you enjoy it David!
Looks delicious! Do you ferment your own miso? I really want to start!
This miso was home-fermented but it was a gift. I have done a lot of things (water & milk kefir, vinegar, sauerkraut–the latter with some failures) but I hadn’t even thought about miso until I got this. So it’s now on my list too (once I run out)!
I am a miso lover and read this with MUCH interest and (hopefully) plans to make it! Thank you, Inger. Yum.
How do you think this would be without the garlic? Usually, that’s an easy question. A clove or two taken out is no problem… But an entire head? Let me know what you think…
Off the top of my head, I think it would work fine, David. Since the garlic was roasted, it was a smaller part of the taste profile. I’d say the parsnips, miso and soy sauce/tamari were the dominant flavors with the seasoned mushrooms being the main accent. So I wouldn’t be afraid to give it a try (especially if you had parsnips and turnips or cauliflower laying around…)
How sweet of you to prepare such deliciousness for your farmer friends, Inger. I’m sure they really appreciated it not to mention enjoyed it too!!!
I’m new to Miso but I do seem to enjoy it. It adds just the taste that I always think is missing especially when I don’t use store bought stock. (I’ve been making more of my own stock these days:)
Thank you so much for sharing, Inger…Beautiful Soup!!!
Thanks Louise. I have started making my own vegetable broth this year–both to use up some of my CSA produce and to keep myself in broth. I may have to think more about using miso if I am totally out!
I love miso, but never seeing a soup like this…looks delicious Inger…thank you so much for the inspiration and sharing the recipe.
Have a great week 🙂
Thanks Juliana!
I love miso. It looks like you made your own? Whenever I buy it, the quantities are so large. How long do you think you can keep it in your fridge?
It was actually a gift Tammy. I should have asked how long it will last, but since it’s fermented (and therefore alive) I would think it would last a bit.
as my fondness for asian flavors grows, i’m quickly realizing that i need to purchase some miso–i’ve never tasted it! what a wonderful soup, inger–it’s as pretty as it must be delicious!
And it’s healthful too Grace–how can you beat that!
Your dinner party sounds wonderful! This soup is lovely! It’s a simple looking soup, yet with so much flavor.
Thanks Thao. I do always enjoy that dinner. It’s so much fun to pull foods that were grown on the farm from the refrigerator or freezer and show how much they are appreciated!
This is beautiful! So happy to give a little inspiration! Good call on doubling the mushrooms 😉 Happy Spring!
Thank you so much for the inspiration Jodi! The perfect way to finish off my turnips! Your photos are spectacular BTW–I will have to come by to browse more often!
Your soups are always delicious Inger !!
Thank you Gloria–such a nice compliment!