… it being soup season, i’ve made quite a bit of the stuff recently and I’ve been doing a lot of ‘just chuck it in the pan and add stock’ kind of soup making… there’s nothing particularly wrong with this method but you do sometimes end up with green sludge and everything tastes the same… and yes, sometimes it really doesn’t work… there’s a reason that cabbage smells and has been sulking in the back of the fridge and no, making soup out of it won’t be a good thing…
… the point being that I had some parsnips and a few other veg that needed eating but this time I stopped myself and turned to the cook books instead… and boy am I glad I did… and so with a little help from Sir Jamie of Oliver I present to you…
Spicy Parsnip and Cauliflower Soup
this is one of those delightful, thick, creamy and sweet little soups that has a gentle heat behind it that’s really not too overpowering…
1 medium onion – finely chopped
4 medium parsnips – peeled and diced
half a medium cauliflower – chopped into pieces
2 cloves of garlic – finely crushed
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger – finely chopped
1 tablespoon garam masala
butter and olive oil
1 pint of milk
1 pint of good vegetable stock
– in a heavy pan, melt a little olive oil and butter, add the onions, ginger, garlic and garam masala and saute gently for 10 minutes until the onions are soft
– add the parsnips and cauliflower, turn the heat very low, place the lid on and sweat gently until nearly soft, about 5 mins
– add the stock and the milk and with the lid on, simmer gently for 30 minutes
– liquidize with a hand-held thingy and serve with a swish of garlic olive oil.
eat and of course, enjoy!
Dom, I've never seen Parsnip here!!!
This soup looks delicious, I love cauliflower…
Have a nice afternoon
Yum, yum, yum that does look fab, Dom. And I did chuckle when I read the bit about the old cabbage…
Dom: You are right–sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've only recently come to accept parsnips as being “edible”. I never had them as a child and passed them up as an adult thinking they were anemic carrots. So far, I've only roasted them to a delicious sweetness. Now, thanks to you and Sir Jamie, I'm pairing them up with cauliflower for soup.
Best,
Bonnie
I am a big fan of Sir Jamie of Oliver too. A little touch, and boring vegetables are transformed into a delicious soup! Great post, Dom!
I sometimes wonder at the fact that our US supermarkets always seem to have parsnips, rutabagas (don't you Brits have a cool name for them?), and turnips. No one I know ever talks about cooking any of these. Hell, I don't talk about them either. I will fix that.
I'll be with you in a couple of minutes Dom, I'll bring some home-made bread. It has taken me 58 years to understand why people like parsnips!!
Yum! Going to make this tomorrow!
Jamie Oliver does it again! I would have never thought to add garam masala to this soup, but it sounds amazing.
YESS! I am a REAL soup dragon, I make the stuff and love to eat the stuff too and this is MY KINDA soup Dom, bloody LUSH!
You can never have too many soup recipes, especially if they involve cauliflower and Indian spices. Thanks for sharing!
You know, I don't know that I've ever actually had a parsnip but I see them all the time at the farmer's market. I'm all about soups so I'll be giving this one a try soon. 🙂
Dom, this really would be a good use for what I've got hanging around my veggie drawer. I've got cauliflower and parsnips and onions. I love how simple and uncomplicated it is – and the texture looks so creamy…
Haha- I am very guilty of just throwing the contents of the vegetable drawer into a pan with a bit of stock and randomly making up a name at the end for the soup! We've made this (or a version of it) before- it really is a super soup!
The parnsips languishing in my veg draw have just met their delicious destiny!
Parsnips make such good soups – they're so good with spices and other strong flavours.
Oh yes! Have made this soup before thanks to Jamie and enjoyed it thoroughly. Yearning for Autumn now to get the soup diet going and have bookmarked a few of your soups!
Dom, that soup looks absolutely beautiful! Almost too pretty to dip a spoon into.. but I'd get over that fast, trust me!
LOVE this soup!! sounds and looks delicious!
I've come late to the Jamie Oliver party – never really understood the hype until I took the time to actually look at the ingredients he uses and the way he treats them. In the past fortnight I've bought two of his books.
To cut a long (and irrelevant, sorry) story short, this soup recipe looks and sounds like Heaven to me, since I love parsnip, cauliflower and garam masala. I've just never thought to combine them !
Oh Dom, you really know how to inspire. We've just dug up our meagre parsnip crops from the plot and as we've left them in the ground rather too long, they are looking a bit manky. So parsnip soup is a great way to go. Love the photo.