Spiced Parsnip & Apple Soup with Parsnip Crisps
Snow is apparently heading our way this week. Too late to create a festive wonderland, its arrival in January often heralds nothing more than disruption for most. The unseasonably mild weather that has caused spring shoots to hesitantly emerge, is about to end. Warming comfort food will soon be the order of the day. I decide to be prepared and make a batch of soup, next week's lunches taken care of in little more than an hour.
Parsnips, still in season until the end of February, are at their best during cold weather when the frost enhances their flavour. More versatile than a simple accompaniment to a Sunday roast, they make a lovely addition to a warm salad and can even be added to cakes in place of carrots. Parsnips also marry well with robust spices such as cumin, coriander, cardamom and turmeric to create this spiced winter soup. I always include a grating of sharp apple at the end of cooking to bring balance to the naturally sweet parsnips. Adding a garnish of freshly made parsnip crisps, sprinkled with sea salt elevates this soup into something special. Beware if you have never made them before, the parsnip crisps are decidedly moorish.
Spiced Parsnip & Apple Soup with Parsnip Crisps
Slightly adapted from a recipe by Delia Smith
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins
Total time: 1 hour 25 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
1 heaped teaspoon cumin seeds
6 whole cardamon pods, seeds only
1- 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 heaped teaspoon tumeric
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
700g young parsnips, peeled and diced
1 litre of good quality chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper
1 medium Bramley cooking apple
Parsnip crisps
1 medium parsnip, peeled
Malden or other sea salt flakes
6 tablespoons of sunflower or rapeseed oil
Instructions
Toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cardamom seeds in a small frying pan over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until they become fragrant. Remove from the heat and crush the spices to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until it starts to soften.
Add the chopped garlic, the crushed spices, turmeric and ginger. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the chopped parsnips.
Add the chicken stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer gently for an hour without covering.
After an hour, remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool slightly before liquidising in a blender.
Meanwhile thinly slice the remaining medium parsnip into thin rounds using a sharp knife or mandolin.
Heat the 6 tablespoons of sunflower or rapeseed oil in a small frying pan until almost smoking hot.
Carefully fry the parsnip rounds in small batches for about 2-3 minutes until they are golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
Return the liquidised soup to a clean saucepan, check seasoning and start to gently re-heat.
Peel and core the Bramley apple and when the soup starts to simmer, grate the apple into the pan.
Simmer very gently for a further 2 minutes and then serve straight away in bowls topped with parsnip crisps.