Is it dog food? Or perhaps a sausage? Nope. It’s mashed root veggies in a plastic package, a sight that made me extremely happy yesterday at Stockmann Herkku, one of the largest grocery stores in Helsinki downtown – so happy that I had to write a blog post about it.

If summer is the season for fresh greens, berries, lettuce and vegetables, autumn is dedicated for warm soups and root vegetables. The problem is that I can’t be bothered to do all the pealing and boiling and mashing that’s needed for a simple root vegetable soup especially on weekdays. It takes too much time and effort from the evening.

A couple of years ago (or it could be even 10…) I found a solution that lets me skip all the time consuming parts and go directly to the soup heating part with the mashed root vegetable package. I’ve tried sweet potato and beetroot and potato mashes, but you can buy at least carrots and swede mashed too (I think these two are mostly used for Christmas casseroles). I think these pre-cooked and mashed root veggies are only available from October to December so I keep forgetting they exist – and on the other hand am positively surprised when I find them from the store.

Yesterday I decided to buy the mashed beetroot and potato version and made a soup from the recipe I found from the package i.e.

• beetroot and potato mash
• vegetable stock
• balsamic vinegar
• beacon
• black pepper
• smetana (on top)

with some garlic rye chips on side. This literally took me 5 minutes to prepare, taking the photos actually took more. I was supposed to make something from kale as well but forgot it. It did end up in the photo though.  I’m not convinced it’s visually as exciting as it could be but nevertheless the soup is an ultimate fast food for weekdays! I also noticed there’s a Jerusalem artichoke mash I haven’t tried yet so I’ll probably test it the next time.

-Marjo