It’s snowing! As I am not working at the moment (well, not in a paid fashion) snow offers welcome weather relief. It’s essentially another toddler activity that doesn’t involve play doh or swings. Which we may have overdone recently. Incidentally my son may not be quite as keen on snow as me yet. He looked out of the window this morning and pronounced there’s ‘snow mess’ outside. How true.
Anyway, when it’s snowing, it’s soup time. This soup was created to use up some of the yummy parsnips my father in law grows. It’s a hearty, spicy, warming soup. Perfect for post sledging/snowman making activities. This makes at least 8 portions depending on how gloopy you like your soup.
Ingredients:
- 4 large parsnips (When I say large I’m talking bloody huge, so in supermarket terms we’re talking about 16 average ones.)
- 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped (Or white will do.)
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 stp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- lots of boiling water
- 1 tbsp Bouillon powder or a veggie stock cube
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
This is easy, as most soups tend to be in our house. Heat the oil and salt in a large saucepan on a medium heat. I used a stock pot to be on the safe side. Add the onion and stir with a wooden spoon.
Then peel and chop the parsnip into pieces about 2 inches long. Throw into the pan with the onion and stir. Turn the heat up and add the ginger and cumin. You could add any spices you have here – curry powder, ground coriander etc. Fry until the parsnips are starting to brown then add boiling water until it just covers the parsnips. Then add the Bouillon powder. Cover the pan and leave to simmer until the parsnips are tender.
Once cooked use a handheld blender (or free standing one actually but handheld is the pref at Camp Bell to reduce washing up) to whizz up until smooth. Add more water if it resembles purée too much. Lastly add the lemon juice. It seems to work rather well, cutting through the carb texture of the parsnips.
Serve with warm, crusty bread or naan. This freezes really well if you made enough to feed a rugby team like I did.
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