It's time for a recipe!

It's beginning to get cold out there. I'm a cold person by nature, so when the temperatures outside start falling below 50 degrees, I need heavy layers or hot food in my tummy to keep me from getting uncomfortable. Which brought me to a recipe for "Roasted Autumn Vegetable Chowder." There's nothing like a huge pot of wonderfully thick chowder of fairly cheap ingredients (what's cheaper than potatoes and broccoli?) to make you feel better about life, especially when your roomies don't bother to turn on the heat so we can all save money (and energy!). As always, take this recipe and make it yours. Add squash or leave out the broccoli. And goodness, this can be vegan or you can add cheese (like I did). It's your stomach. Just watch the proportions when you begin to make sure you have enough liquid in the roasting pan. That's what makes the veggies taste yummy and gets them nice and tender.

So, without further ado...

Roasted Autumn Vegetable Chowder
from Pinch My Salt blog

Firstly, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. (Not only is this the 'perfect' roasting temperature, it heats up the kitchen quite nicely.)

Prepare the following:
3 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut in chunks
1 small head of cauliflower, cut in chunks
1/2 head of broccoli, cut in chunks
2 leeks, white part only, rinsed well and sliced
1 onion, cut in chunks
3 large garlic cloves, peeled

Put all those vegetables into a roasting pan and toss them with the following:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
large pinch of kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

Pour in:
one cup of vegetable broth
1/2 cup of white wine (any wine will do, but make sure you cook with a wine you would drink. Heating wine only intensifies the flavor. So normally bitter wine turns vegetables into bitter vegetables. Also, add more wine as you see fit. You can never have enough, which is why you should now pour yourself a glass of wine and sip it as you finish up the chowder.)

Pop the pan into the oven and roast the vegetables at 400 degrees, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and slightly browned (about 30 minutes).

When you have five minutes left of the roasting:
In a large saucepan, heat two tablespoons of butter over medium heat, then add:
1/2 onion, diced
one carrot, diced
one celery stalk, diced
Cook, stirring for about five minutes or until the vegetables are softened. Add the roasted vegetables (making sure to scrape out all the liquid with a spatula).

Add:
three more cups of vegetable broth.
Bring the mixture to a simmer. Pour half into a food processor or normal blend and pulse until smooth. Pour that back into the unblended part and combine. (This gives you a smooth yet slightly chunky chowder, and we all know chunky is good!)

Add:
one cup of milk (I used soy, which is better than milk to me)
one cup of defrosted frozen corn.
Heat the whole thing through. (If you used soy milk, don't boil it. Soy milk will curdle when boiled.)

Finishing touches:
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Add a tablespoon or two of hot sauce, to taste (I used Cholula - add more if you want).
If you like cheese, shred some over your bowl.
And this picture, taken right before I ate it and in really bad light, is what you will have. Dig in and warm up that tummy.