Roasted Mushroom and Carrot Soup

1 lb mushrooms of choice, whole or cut into chunks
1 lb carrots, cut into chunks
1/2 a large onion, cut into chunks
3 cloves garlic, skin on
3-4 cups homemade poultry stock
Herbs of choice (I used thyme and marjoram, could use sage, rosemary, etc)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Set oven to 425

• Put veggies on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat.
• Put garlic cloves into square of foil, drizzle with oil, close into packet and place on sheet with veggies.
• Roast for 25-30 minutes until veggies are softened
• Let cool slightly then squeeze garlic from its skin. Transfer veggies and garlic to bowl and add 1 cup stock, blend with immersion blender -OR- transfer to food processor and blend with 1 cup stock; work in batches if needed.
  Continue to add stock 1/2 cup at a time to get desired consistency. (I used 3 cups for mine)
• Add herbs of choice and salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some crusty bread on the side.

I could see a LOT of variations on this theme, adding more veggies to the mix (roasting red peppers along with the other veggies for instance sounds delicious), changing up the herbs used, setting aside from of the veggies to chop into smaller pieces and keeping them whole for a more chunky soup, pairing with rice, quinoa, or lentils....the list goes on. And of course what mushrooms you use will change the earthiness/nuttiness factors in the soup as well. Oh, nutty! What about some ground walnuts in the mix? So many possibilities. It was super simple, fast enough to make just before company arrived, made the house smell fantastic and was easy cleanup.