Root Vegetable Soup

My husband and I took advantage of the spring like weather on the weekend and did a lot of work in the garden.  I planted out tomatoes and some herbs, while he did some heavy work of shoring up some retaining walls.  I thought we deserved a healthy lunch and checked out the fridge to see what there was to make a soup out of.

I found some carrots, parsnip, cabbage and few small tomatoes.  So this was what my soup would be made of.

1 small onion chopped
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 carrots peeled and chopped
2 parsnips peeled and chopped
4 campari tomatoes
Small handful of fresh thyme
2 cups of chicken stock
6 nugget potatoes quartered
1/4 cabbage shredded

I added the olive oil to a large pot then the onions and garlic cooked for a couple of minutes until soft then added the carrots and parsnips stirred it all together and added the Chicken stock.

Add the potatoes and bring to a simmer and add the thyme stripped off the stems.  Thyme along with rosemary and sage survived the winter and now that spring is here they are starting to grow again.  Oh happy day.  When the the soup comes to a simmer add the tomatoes and turn down to low.

Simmer until the vegetables are cooked through and the tomatoes have collapsed, taste and add salt and/or pepper if needed.  Now add the shredded cabbage.

It seems like a lot of cabbage but it soon cooks down.  The soup is ready when the cabbage is cooked but not to death, it is best when it still has a little bite.  With a nice crusty bread this was a good reward for all the garden work.

Of course I added a sprig of fresh thyme for the picture, you do eat with your eyes first.