Hurrah! Victory! One of the recipes for this week has been a success, yay! Contender no. 3 was the spiced parnsip soup and I have to say, I'm definitely happy with the results. Parnsips make a creamy, silky soup which just flirts with the edge of 'too sweet', but which has a really interesting earthy flavour - a revelation!
This soup is pretty easy so give it a go next time you have an abundance of parsnips...
Sweat 1 lge onion and 2 cloves garlic in a generous bit of butter (and a wee splash of oil to stop the butter burning). Once they're soft but not brown, add about a tsp of freshly chopped ginger, 1 tsp coriander seeds and 1 tsp cumin seeds (both whole. You could probably use ground spices, but I personally like the texture of the wee bits of spice seed. Plus the whole spices are much more intense), 1 tbsp garam masala and 6 peeled and chopped parnsips. Fry off for a minute or so to get the spices going, then cover with about a litre of stock (vege was what the original recipe called for, but I had just made fresh chicken stock - after Saturday's gastro-pub meal extravaganza - so I used that. Use what you have and when in doubt, water with some salt!). Simmer for about half an hour or until the parnsip is soft. Puree entirely so it is smooth, return to pot and add as much cream as you feel you can without feeling guilty (the original recipe was for 150ml...I'd used most of my wee pot of cream in the previous night's meal, so I only had half the amount though I threw in some creme fraiche to make up the difference). Season and serve sprinkled with chopped coriander, chopped red chillis and some toasted whole cumin seeds.
I think this is a great alternative to pumpkin soup which is of course a winter favourite. The parnsip is perhaps a tiny bit sweeter, so you do need all the spices to sort of even that out I think, but it's really very good. Hope you try it and like it! (Oh, and this makes loads, but I think it freezes well...although you might not want to add the cream until you serve if you plan to freeze it because reheating will very likely split the cream). If you were having an indian themed dinner party, this would be a nice soup to start I think...
So, not a bad few days of new recipes. I shall hunt out another couple to try this week...I'm determined to find some more new favourites!
Oh, and the whole pot-roasted chicken with potatoes boulangere etc etc meal the other night...? Very delicious. It smelt amazing while it was cooking and after one small bite of chicken, Andrew turned and exclaimed on its deliciousness, so that's really the best compliment, isn't it?! The potatoes weren't terribly successful (I always always always split the sauce when making any sort of potato bake...tips on how to avoid this?!?) but they tasted better than they looked and were a delicious way to mop up the creamy sauce. The meal was completed by the destruction of a pottle of Haagen Daas Dulce De Leche icecream...bliss. I really need to get on the exercycle....! :-P
I tried to get all fancy with the photo taking, and attempted to mimic the picture in the magazine. Unfortunately my chillis started to sink before the pic was taken, and the olive oil wasn't extra virgin so it just looks like I dribbled vegetable oil over the soup (not pretty). Ah well.
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