Okay, so I’m not quite ready to get into the festive spirit yet. Parties are being planned, the John Lewis Christmas ad is on TV and sprouts are cropping up in supermarket sandwiches. But I’M NOT READY YET. I’ve always waited until after my birthday (6th December, if anyone was wondering…) to celebrate Christmas properly, but a mixture of work and living in a festive-fanatic city has forced the jolly season upon me early this year. So, to ease me in, I decided to make this tasty semi-festive parsnip soup.
The base is really important in this recipe – it creates a nice bed of flavour for the parsnip to sit on and injects some spice. To minimise the chopping time you could whizz it all up using a handheld blender or food processor, or if you’re willing to spend a bit more cash, use frozen pre-chopped veg. I’d recommend buying the parsnips fresh and I don’t bother with peeling – it cuts into my important slurping time. I added oat milk at the end for a velvety finish, I think it makes the soup creamy without having to use actual cream which, lets be honest, usually stays at the back of the fridge until it grows new cream.
Parsnip soup ingredients
1 white onion
a thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 a tsp crushed chillies
800g parsnips
1 litre vegetable stock
250ml oat milk
How to make parsnip soup
Start by prepping the veg. Finely chop the onion, garlic and ginger, then chop the parsnips into 2cm chunks.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan, then add the onion, garlic and ginger. Fry gently for a couple of minutes before adding the spices.
After a few more minutes, add the parsnips and stir well. Allow the flavours to infuse for a few more minutes before adding the stock. Simmer for 25-30 minutes.
Using a stick blender, blitz the soup until smooth and creamy. Then pour in the oat milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.
I like to serve my parsnip soup with a dollop of Greek yoghurt, a drizzle of olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh coriander.
Louella's Kitchen 