Spiced Parsnip Soup

This tasty recipe came to my attention in quite a roundabout way, not that that’s a bad thing. My partner received an electronic Christmas card from New College Lanarkshire and this recipe was one of a few they included. That’s my kind of card!I only have a note of the recipe so can’t embed a link to the original I’m afraid.

Although this would be a good soup to serve over the festive period, it works well during any vaguely cold spell. It is much lighter than I expected and the spices add that extra bit of warmth we often seek when temperatures drop. Although we’re well into March, the weather here has been unseasonably severe with snow, torrential rain and temperatures below zero so I think a more wintry soup is still in order. Did I really see a news article forcesting more snow at Easter!?!? I hope not!

The fact that we have such a glut of parsnips in shops at the moment is an added bonus. I managed to buy my 1.5Kg of parsnips for the princely sum of £1! ONE POUND! What a bargain.

I’ve provided the original recipe and added my comments in brackets.

Spiced Parsnip Soup

Serves 4 – 6

Suitable for Vegetarians, Gluten Free

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 150g butter (I didn’t have any butter so used rapeseed oil and it worked well)
• 4 large onions, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (I’ll add a bit more of all three spices when I make this again as I’d like slightly more of a kick)
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1.5Kg parsnips, peeled, washed and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 150ml cream (I tasted without the cream and it was fine, so you could miss this out if you’re cutting back on dairy)
• 2.5 litres hot vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the butter in a suitable pan (I recommend a large, wide pan)
2. Sweat the onion and garlic until softened then add the spices and mix well
3. Add the parsnip and cook for a further 5 minutes
4. Add the stock, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes
5. Purée the soup and then pass it through a strainer
6. Reheat the soup,add the honey and the cream
7. Season to taste

Thank you New College Lanarkshire.

Enjoy!

Val x