Not sure if you are aware of this or not, but it’s still freaking freezing here in the Northeast. We are trapped in soup time here. This is a recipe to keep you warm on these cold April nights. We took Carla Hall’s Pumpkin Pot Pie recipe, got rid of the pumpkin and the puff pastry, and just used the contents as an amazing autumn vegetable stew. The pumpkin is really just for presentation and we are lazy by nature, so it had to go. The broth is super creamy, and it picks up the taste of every herb and veggie so that you get an explosion of flavor in every slurp. We paired it with some Woodchuck Hard Cider. The recipe below is our version, you can check out the official, fancy one at The Chew. Folks will be (*ahem*) ladling out the compliments!
Carla Hall’s finished product:
And ours:
- 7 garlic cloves (sliced thinly)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 carrots (medium diced)
- 4 celery (medium diced)
- 2 cup pearl onions (frozen)
- 4 cup sweet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 10 sage leaves
- 2 bay leaf
- 4 cup swiss chard (chopped)
- 8 cup vegetable stock
- 2 cup heavy cream
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 tablespoons butter (divided)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Melt 4 tablespoons butter and oil in a large heavy bottomed pot.
- Add the carrots, celery and garlic and sweat for 5 minutes, just slightly browning the ingredients. Toss in the pearl onions and sweet potato.
- Add the thyme, nutmeg and sage. Stir the vegetables to coat and then sprinkle with the flour. Mix to combine.
- Add the vegetable stock and bring up to a boil.
- Add in the swiss chard and the bay leaf.
- Simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the cream off the heat and adjust the seasoning.
- Remove bay leaves and sage. (They are big and easy to find and fish out.)
- Ladle out and serve.