Parsnip, Apple and Chorizo soup

Wintertime is almost here and what is one of the best things about Winter? Parsnips. Yet while I love the taste, it is so distinctive that I find a whole bowlful or dish of it just too much. So here I have married together the beautiful compination of parsnips and apples whilst keeping the flavours seperate as well. And as there was a chorizo looking at me from the fridge, left over from earlier in the week, and as Winter vegetables usually go well with bacon I popped the sausage in there as well (smoked bacon would be nice as well I magine).

- Roughly chop a white onion and let it cook gently i some olive oil whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients. You want the onions to cook without burning until they start to turn honey coloured, so let them take their time, a good ten minutes should do it.
- Peel and chop an apple and chop up the chorizo into pieces the size you would like to find in your soup bowl.
- Scoop out the onions into a bowl and put to one side.
- Turn up the heat and pop in the chorizo followed by the apple and let them cook until browning or charring on the edges.
- Peel and roughly chop two or three parsnips, I used two but it depends how big they are.
- Scoop out the apples and chorizo into another bowl and keeping the heat up pop in the parsnips, adding a little oil if neccesary (I usually pour in the oil that collects at the bottom of the onion bowl).
- Once the parsnips have browned at the edges lower the heat, pop the onions back in along with a pint and a quarter of half strength vegetable stock from a powder.
- Leave to gently boil until the parsnip is soft enough to squash against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Liquidise or blend the soup smooth and return to the pan to reheat adding in the reserved apple and chorizo.
- Mine needed some ground black pepper and a little salt.
- Serve with some big chunks of buttered white bread and some chopped parsley if you have some.

The amounts here are plenty for two people (as all my recipes are).

I often use whole spices in my cooking and baking because I love the way that thay give a sudden burst of flavour when biting one and it is the same in this soup, so use a dessert or eating apple rather than a cooking one so that the chunks don’t turn to mush and if you cook them quick and hot the insides will remain crunchy and almost raw.

enjoy

Curried Parsnip Soup

Sunday 7am

Spring has just begun here in New Zealand, traditionally the time to be eating over wintered root vegetables, Brussels sprouts, and leeks. In the UK supermarkets have killed seasonal eating of course with green beans flown in from Kenya and so on, but here in NZ, miles from anywhere food is still quite seasonal. I like that. My body does too and I find I crave diferent things at different times of the year.

Here is my recipe for a spiced parsnip soup. I find parsnips can be a bit harsh but at this time of year, having been through a few frosts they are at their best and this soup brings out their sweetness.

- Put some olive oil and a quarter inch slice of butter in a pan to melt over a low    heat.

- Peel and chop a small onion, add it and leave to cook slowly until soft and        golden brown, this will take a good ten to fifteen minutes but don't hurry it, it  is  sweetness we are after here.

- Scoop out the onions into a bowl, turn up the heat and add three peeled and chopped parsnips.

- Let them cook until they begin to brown in patches and char at the edges. This  is the sugar in them caramelising and again brings out the sweetness.

- Put the onions back in along with a pint and a quarter of half strenght vegetable  stock, turn down until gently bubbling and leave until the parsnips are cooked,  twenty minutes or so usually.

- Liquidise the soup and return to the cleaned pan to reheat.

For the spicing most recipes add a teaspoonfull of curry powder but I prefer to choose my own spices and add them whole in a method I have seen for finishing off a dahl.

- put a little oil and some butter to melt melt ans sizzle in a fying pan.

- once the sizzling dies down add half a cinnamon stick, a couple of cardamom  pods and a teaspoonfull each of fennel seeds and cumin seeds.

- Fry them gently, taking them off the heat instantly as soon as they start to pop  and brown.

- Stir in a spoonful of ground coriander the add it all to the soup, or swirl it into individual bowls as you serve  

The spicing should be mild and not at all overpowering. I like the way that the seeds stay whole and you can crunch them as you eat releasing that fennel or cumin flavour in a burst. If your guests would be traumatised by the sight of all that butter being poured in you could of course toast the spices in a dry frying pan and serve them in a bowl at the table for everybody to scatter over their soup themselves.

Parsnip soup, perfect for a frosty winters day.