Potage is a French word for thick soup. Just the thought of a bowl of hot nourishing soup evokes thoughts of blankets wrapped around us to ward off the chill, fun with friends in front of an outdoor fire. Our roots and herbs potage is perfect for any time of year. So tasty and nutrient dense, it supports digestive, nerve, and immune health.
Immune-Boosting Roots & Herbs Potage
Ingredients
- 1 fresh burdock root - chopped. If you can’t find burdock in the wild, Asian stores sell burdock root under the name “gobo.”
- 2 fresh dandelion roots - chopped
- 1/2 cup dried nettles - crushed
- 3 qts. beef, chicken, bone, or veggie broth*
- 8-9 fresh shiitake or crimini mushrooms – sliced
- 2 carrots – chopped
- 1 red or golden beet - chopped
- 1 small onion - chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic - chopped
- 1/2 cup whole grain basmati or brown rice
- 1/4 cup liquid aminos
- 3 Tbsp. kelp - crushed
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. miso
Instructions
- Cover the burdock and dandelion roots in 3 cups of water and cook 10-15 minutes over medium heat or until tender. You might have to wipe off some foam. Just in itself, this brew is nutrient dense, but bitter. The rest of the ingredients will offset the bitterness.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the liquid aminos, kelp, miso and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on medium low for ½ hour to 45 minutes or until the rice is tender. Take off the heat, add the liquid aminos, kelp, miso, garlic. Sprinkle bowls of potage with nutritional yeast and fresh parsley right before serving.
Notes
For variety, try adding beans, squash, chopped cabbage, kale, basil, herbs, and other root vegetables. Serve with a nice salad and warm crusty bread and butter. Enjoy!
To make vegetable broth:
Every time you chop a veggie, whether it's onions, beets, garlic, celery, carrots, potatoes, parsley, basil, herb stems, etc., simply put the peels and scraps in a freezer bag, and toss into the freezer. Keep adding to the bag until it's full. Empty the bag of veggie scraps in pot, add double the amount of water, bring to a boil, turn heat down and slowly simmer for an hour or so, then strain. You can add salt and pepper, or leave it plain. I've always had great success making flavorful vegetable stock this way. The one time I didn't care for the taste was the one time that there were too many lemon rinds in the mix. That batch was tooooo bitter! BTW: I always use organic vegetables. They're just better than non organic.
