Spicy Parsnip Soup: Seasonal Recipe

The chilly weather of the past few days and a bumper crop of parsnips means it's the perfect time for a warming bowl of spicy parsnip soup. I've blogged a parsnip potage recipe before, but have to confess this one from Jamie Oliver has superseded it as my favourite. His use of ginger and milk makes for a much more satisfying mouthful.

As usual I've made a few changes to the recipe outlined. Firstly I substituted a heaped teaspoon of garam masala paste for the powder. This worked well, especially as the oil of the paste helped with softening the onion at the start of cooking. I also added a little of the stock towards the end of this step to prevent the onions from sticking on the bottom of the pan.

I used skimmed milk (milk or coconut milk are the designated ingredients) which hasn't made the soup any less creamy in taste. The recipe says use chopped coriander leaves, but I found a few flat leaf parsley leaves were around when I went foraging for potential salad ingredients a few days ago, which helped to make my version a little more seasonal. If you have leeks instead of onions, I've found these are a good substitute. I've even sneaked in the odd carrot from time to time...

My brother-in-law asked for seconds the first time I made this a few weeks ago and as he's vegetarian, I'm taking that as a compliment :)

My complete list of seasonal recipes is in my Easy Recipe Finder. What's your favourite soup to chase away the winter chills?

PS For those of you in need of plenty of recipes to hoover up your parsnip harvest, Happy Mouffetard has at last found the perfect parsnip cake recipe. Not only that, she brought gorgeous Thomas Samuel into the world over the weekend :)

Comments

  1. Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax!6 February 2012 at 10:29

    Not overstruck on parsnips but parsnip soup is good. My favourite winter soup, though is thick lentil soup - except on bonfire night when it has to be tinned tomato.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP6 February 2012 at 12:29

      NAH and I were discussing only last week how sometimes only tinned tomato will do, no matter how wonderful homemade soup is. I wonder why that's so?

      For me it's the meal of choice when I don't feel very well. Nothing else will do.

      Delete
  2. Caro7 February 2012 at 16:55

    I don't often veer off into the soup aisle at the shops but in the deli section I've recently found a pot of Beetroot, parsnip, Horseradish and Ginger. Absolutely delicious (if you like all those ingredients, which I do). The only off putting thing is its bright fuschia pink colour...

    ReplyDelete
  3. VP18 February 2012 at 14:53

    That sounds great! I think NAH would be put off by the colour though... :(

    ReplyDelete

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