Soup of the Week: Spicy Parsnip and Carrot

I bought a lot of parsnips thinking that I would serve them with our Christmas Eve dinner, but my kids had other ideas. I was mildly surprised to see them choose roasted celeriac over parsnips. I contemplated just tossing a few parsnips in with the celeriac, but in the end I was too busy with the other elements of dinner.

Here I was a couple of days later with too many parsnips for just my husband and myself to eat , so I did what I always do. I made soup. The parsnip soups I have tried before are largely cream based. Although this had some cream in it, you could leave it out entirely and use olive oil rather than butter if you wanted a vegan soup. Despite the name, this isn't a really super spicy soup, but it does leave a nice tingle in the mouth. I was feeling lazy and I almost didn't make the garnish, but my husband thought that it really made the soup. 

Spicy Parsnip and Carrot 

3 tbsp  butter
2 carrots and 3-4 parsnips, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
5 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 ounces cream
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, cut into julienne strips
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1. Melt the butter in a large pan, and gently fry the onions, parsnips and carrots for about 3 minutes. Stir in the spices and cook for one minute more.
2. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
3. Puree in a blender or use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Add the cream and heat gently on a low heat.
4. While it is re-heating, heat the oil in a small frying pan and add the julienned strips of garlic and the yellow mustard seeds. Fry quickly until the garlic is beginning to brown and the mustard seeds start to pop and splutter. Remove from the heat. Before serving, pour a little of the garlic mixture including oil on the top of each plate of soup.

From the website A Life (Time) of Cooking 

Difficulty Level: Easy

Related Posts:

Soup of the Week: Stir Up a Roasted Celeriac Soup 
Soup of the Week: Cilantro and Coconut  
Soup of the Week: Five Spice Soup  
Soup of the Week: Baked Potato 

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