It-was-all-yellow curried parsnip soup with apple pickle
We’re sneaking this recipe onto the website just before Spring really settles in to stay. It’s a soup we’ve enjoyed a few times over the winter months; there’s something about the creamy, velvety texture of parsnips in combination with lots of ginger and warming curried spices which comforts and nourishes one from head to toe. This soup will leave you feeling deeply satisfied and very cosy!
It’s a one-pot-wonder and brilliant for batch cooking. It will freeze, defrost and reheat perfectly, and if you wish to keep things fully vegan simply use oil in place of butter at the beginning of the recipe. While we typically favour oil in cooking (and butter slathered onto fresh sourdough!) this recipe benefits from the creamier mouthful and overall richness that butter lends to a dish.
A little quick pickled apple is the perfect topper here which only takes 1 minute to make. Its vibrant acidity and refreshing crunch are a wonderful contrast to the velvety soup.
Roasting the parsnip peels with a little olive oil and some fennel seeds is a fun zero-waste hack which again adds awesome contrasting texture to this dish.
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
This recipe makes 4-6 servings.
Ingredients :
Large knob of butter
1 brown onion
2 stalks celery
4 parsnips - keep the peels!
1 small baking potato
2 cloves garlic
2 large thumbs ginger
2 tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric powder
4 tsp mild curry powder
1.25 litres water
250 ml / 1 cup oat milk, or any unsweetened plant milk
½ lemon, juice only
For the toppings:
1 tbsp fennel seeds (for the parsnip chips)
1 tsp olive oil (for the parsnip chips)
1 crunchy eating apple
2 tbsp cider vinegar
Method:
Start by prepping your ingredients: dice the onion; chop the celery into 0.5 cm thick slices; peel and roughly chop the parsnips into 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm chunks (keep the peels to one side!); peel and dice the potato; peel and slice the garlic; and peel and grate or finely chop the ginger. Note, there’s no need to be too precious as everything will be blended at the end!
Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium/low heat. Once warm, add the onion and celery, and saute for 8 minutes stirring often. It’s important these first two ingredients are allowed to soften slowly and caramelise gently; their natural sweetness is the ‘flavour foundation’ on which you’ll layer curry powder, turmeric etc. If one rushes the cooking of the onions a soup will always taste a little flat and thin.
After 8 minutes add the parsnips, potato, garlic, ginger and sea salt, and continue cooking and stirring for 4 minutes.
After 4 minutes add the turmeric and curry powder. Cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often to ensure things don’t catch.
Next add the water and milk, and keep the lid half on / half off as you bring this to the boil. Allow the soup to simmer gently for 40 minutes; this will be sufficient time for the root vegetables to cook though and for all the flavours to harmonise.
If you are making the parsnip chips do so now now. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan; toss the peels with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the fennel seeds, and roast in the oven for 10-16 minutes until golden and crunchy. Note, the chips will firm up more as they cool.
After 40 minutes turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool for 10 minutes before adding in the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and blending until as smooth as can be!
To prepare the pickled apple simply dice the apple into 1 cm cubes and toss with the cider vinegar.
Serve your soup in warmed bowls topped with the crunchy apple pickle and parsnip crisps; we love a little toasted rye bread on the side. Enjoy!
