Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey and Leeks

Fall has finally come to Texas, and maybe even a bit earlier than usual. Either way, I am very much enjoying a reprieve from the heat and humidity we've endured for the last several months. Maybe that's why I am so excited for fall this year, or it could be my love of gourds, root veggies, and earthy spices. I used to be such a summertime girl, but now the idea of scarves and spices has me totally stoked.

I may have mentioned this before, but I also love soup. Like really love soup. We didn't have a particularly soup friendly winter last year, so I'm hoping for an extended fall and a reasonable winter. Note that a reasonable winter in my mind means nothing below 45 degrees F; nowhere in Texas has coat checks and we tend to use our heat in the winter the same was as we use our AC all other times of year.

I had a little bit of extra time on the weekend, and decided to make a roasted carrot and sweet potato soup, inspired by one of my trips to Scotland earlier in the year.

The soup I ate was served with a healthy drizzle of sage oil and a fried sage leaf, which really complements the flavors of the carrot and sweet potato. I used a sage seasoning in this version, but cannot recommend fresh sage and a sage oil enough here; I was really missing it.

I roasted the carrots and sweet potatoes with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary and dried sage, and tossed everything in olive oil to roast (aka ignore) while I prepped lunch for the week. You'll want to make sure your veggies are roughly the same size so that they cook at the same rate.

When they were fork tender, I pulled them out and popped them in a dutch oven with some melting leeks and chicken stock to simmer further. You can use vegetable broth here if you'd like to make this soup vegetarian/vegan as well. When everything was good and soupy and soft, I pulled out my immersion blender (one of my favorite Christmas presents...seriously) and pureed until smooth. I topped ours off with some italian turkey sausage from WFM and a few extra caramelized leeks. It was awesome for a cool fall evening, and delicious leftover for lunch the next day!

Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey and Leeks

2 Italian Turkey sausages, casings removed

1 leek, white parts sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

4 carrots, cut into rounds

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4c chicken or vegetable stock

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1tsp sage, dried or fresh

Olive oil, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 400F and peel and chop your veggies. Toss carrots, sweet potato, onion, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and sage with 1tbsp of olive oil, and spread on a foil lined baking sheet. Roast in oven until fork tender, about 35 minutes.

In a dutch oven over medium heat, add 1/2tbsp oilve oil and half your sliced leeks. Let soften for a few minutes, then add your roasted veggies and stock. Let everything simmer and soften together and let the flavor of the veggies infuse the broth. Once soft, use an immersion blender to process until smooth. You can also use a regular blender here if you don't have an immersion blender.

In a skillet over medium heat, sautee the remaining leeks in 1/2tbsp olive oil until starting to caramelize. Push to one side and add the turkey sausage, breaking up large chunks as they form.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with turkey and caramelised leeks and fresh ground pepper.