Parsley Root and Roasted Garlic Potage

It's time to move parsley from the side of the plate to the center! Ordinarily relegated to a garnish or seasoning, parsley has a bright and interesting flavor that's easy to incorporate in substantial quantities when you cook with parsley root. Parsley root looks like a parsnip with parsley shooting out of the top and has a concentrated, delicious parsley taste. This soup uses both the leaves and the roots for a sweet green puree, anchored with the rich creaminess of roasted garlic.

You can prep the veggies while the garlic is roasting. Also, this is a great opportunity to make your own stock with the trimmings (parsley stems, parsley root ends, onion skins, top fifth of the garlic, and whatever else you've accumulated this week), which can also be simmering while you're roasting the garlic and then it should be ready to strain by the time you need it.

1 head garlic
olive oil
4 tablespoons butter or Earth Balance, divided
2 tablespoons flour (you can use whatever you have--brown rice flour is a great option here because the nuttiness works very nicely with the parsley)
1 cup minced onion
10 parsley roots, scrubbed and diced, greens finely chopped
Vegetable stock to cover (about 4 cups, depending on how big your parsley roots are)

First, roast the garlic: cut off the top fifth to expose the cloves, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil and roast at 375 for about 45 minutes (during which time you can get everything else ready and make stock).

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and stir for a minute until it starts to smell nutty. Add one more tablespoon of butter and the onions and saute for 5 minutes, then add the final tablespoon of butter and the parsley root and stir for 5 more minutes. Pour in stock just to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until parsley root is tender.

When garlic is soft, remove from oven and let cool slightly. Squeeze the garlic cloves into your blender and add the soup and the chopped parsley leaves. Puree until smooth.