Dinner party: purple veggies, summer soup

We had a dinner party a while back — I'm very behind in blogging my dinners — for some folks from my department. In addition to salad and bread and homemade beer the guests brewed, we had a summer soup and roasted purple veggies. The soup showcased our new soup tureen, which we found in a Free Box in the Berkeley hills.

Wash, peel, and slice red onions, beets, blue potatoes, and purple sweet potatoes. Toss in a glass lasagna pan with dried thyme and salt, and bake 400 degree or so for a while (one hour?), until the roots tenderize.

For the soup, shell one pound fresh beans (a mix of canellini and cranberry). In a saucepan, sauté onions and diced poblano peppers. Add beans, corn sliced from the cob, and vegetable stock. Flavor with marjoram, minced smoked paprika peppers, and salt and pepper. Cook half an hour until beans soften.