Bitter Root Soup

I've been steadfastly avoiding three vegetables I hated as a child: turnips, parsnips and rutabagas. I like the sound of rutabagas, and use it to describe drivers who travel five miles at a time with their turn signals on, because they act as if they are in a persistent vegetative state; but I didn't even know what a rutabaga was. I knew I didn't like them.

The other day in the store I decided to face my turnip fear and see if they are as awful as I remembered. So I bought the Vicious Three, and made soup. It turned out all right. A nice [but probably rare] break from my favorite pea with cabbage. This is also made in the pressure cooker.

Bitter Root Soup

2 parsnips [off-white and carrot-like]
1 turnip [round and purple/white]
1 rutabaga [round and white/purple with a rougher exterior]
I peeled these and cubed them.
One yellow onion, 1-2 carrots, diced.
4 to 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced; fresh turmeric root, grated; fresh ginger root, grated.
Ground rosemary, dill, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, sea salt [don't use salt while cooking; supposedly it retards the cooking process.]
Olive oil
1 cup dried split green peas, sorted.
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke; 1-2 tablespoons agave syrup.

Cut up onion, place in pressure cooker with olive oil and "sweat" for 5 to 10 minutes while you cut up other vegetables. Then add seasonings and garlic and cook a little more. Add vegetables, 8 cups water, peas.
Cover cooker with lid and cook on high pressure ten minutes. [I should clarify that it takes time to build up pressure to high. This is not part of the ten minutes.] Allow pressure to release naturally by cooling down. Go read a book or something.

When pressure is released and you can open the lid, stir in ample salt, liquid smoke, and agave syrup. A mellow soup with a good broth, soft vegetables, and a little bite to it. I also considered adding beets to this but held off, as I wanted to see what the flavor was of the roots, which the strong flavor of beets would have obscured. Also, potatoes could be a good addition.

The nice thing about pea soup is that I can make it relatively thin and it always thickens up, although not to the consistency of traditional pea soup, which even approaches the thickness of San Francisco fog.