The first time I saw a parsnip, I thought it was a white carrot. I bought a whole bag, brought them home, and decided to taste one. Not bad, but definitely not a carrot — I didn’t buy them again for a while. The next time I had parsnip, it was in a soup. Then I had some roasted. Then I tried parsnip chips. Between the soup and the chips, I was sold, and I’ve been regularly buying parsnips ever since.
(one way to make a) parsnip soup
I often make this soup using just a pot for ease and rapidity, but a tasty alternative would be to roast some or all of the vegetables on a sheet tray before incorporating them with the apple and stock.
INGREDIENTS
- butter and/or olive oil
- ½ a very large yellow onion, or 1 small one
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 large or 2 medium-small potatoes
- 1 medium parsnip
- 1 red apple, cored
- about ½ litre vegetable stock (a bit more if you like a thinner soup)
- nutmeg
- thyme
- sea salt
- black pepper
METHOD
1. Put a large pot on the stove and bring to a medium heat. Put in enough butter and/or olive oil to thinly coat its bottom.
2. Peel, halve, then roughly chop the onion. Add it to the pot, season lightly with salt, and stir. Roughly chop the carrot. Add it to the pot. Season. Stir. Finely chop the potatoes. Add them to the pot. Season. Stir. Roughly chop the parsnip. Add it to the pot. Stir. Roughly chop the cored apple. Add it to the pot. Stir.
3. By now, the vegetables are looking soft and there may be brown bits of delicious caramelised flavour at the bottom of the pot. Perfect. Pour in the stock. Stir it in, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot so as to incorporate that flavour into the soup. Season with nutmeg and thyme (bonus if your thyme is fresh — but dried works well too).
4. Blend the soup until smooth. Taste. Adjust the seasoning if necessary with salt, pepper, nutmeg and/or thyme. Add more water or stock if too thick for your taste.
5. Serve the soup while piping hot. Top with more nutmeg and thyme, or with leftover-stale-bread-turned-into-croutons, or toasted pumpkin seeds, or a splash of fresh cream, or perhaps any leafy green bits you’d like to use up (who knew, but turns out spontaneous arugula makes a lovely garnish).
Perfect as a starter, a side, or a main dish. Whichever way you like it, make and serve it is as you wish!
Curious about baking with parsnips? Try this spiced parsnip loaf, a dessert I like to think of as a grown-up version of carrot cake.
