Herbal Root Stew

A couple of months ago I made an herbal root stew for my Farmacy Herbs “graduation potluck”. Everyone really liked it and one of my classmates asked me if I could post the recipe. Replying with an astounding “yes!”, I made a mental note to share the recipe soon.

I see this particular person nearly every Saturday at the Pawtucket Wintertime Farmer’s Market and it is only then that I think to myself, “Gosh darn it, I keep forgetting to post that soup recipe!” We’ll this week I remembered on a Friday and I hope that I see this person tomorrow so that I can finally say that its here!

Herbal Root Stew  

A few tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces of ginger
2 yellow onions
about 6 ounces of burdock root (I used 3 pieces, each about 1 foot long)
2 pounds carrots
2 pounds parsnips
2 pounds sweet potatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 can of chick peas
6 cups vegetable stock* + 6 cups water
1/4 cup dried nettles
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup fresh thyme

*I made the vegetable stock beforehand by simmering a collection of vegetable scraps that I had saved in the freezer. It included primarily sweet potato skins, mushroom stems, carrot scraps, onion scraps, garlic skins, and some stems of greens. You can read more about that process here.

In a large saucepan, saute onions in a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil for 5 minutes or so. Add ginger and burdock root, saute for a few more minutes, then add the carrots, parsnips, chick peas, garlic, and sweet potatoes. Cook vegetables in pan for about 10 minutes then add approximately 6 cups of vegetable stock and 6 cups of water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender, but not too soft. Add nettles and fresh thyme, turn off heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes or so. Add the juice of half a lemon.

Enjoy!

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