Have you ever had it happen to you that you are roaming in a grocery store picking up your onions, chilis and potatoes and all-of-a-sudden a packet of an unknown vegetable or a spice jumps into your cart and won't take no for an answer :D Well, that happens to me a lot! My husband calls it 'impulse-buy' but tchk-tchk I know better than that.. see, its a divine intervention! Okay, okay, I know I am an addict for buying new (to me) fruits and vegetables that seem to be in season without having any idea of what I am going to do with it. Then they sit in the fridge patiently waiting to be used up. A week goes by, no super-great cooking idea strikes me, and at the end of the week, I end up using them in my sure-fire way: by soupifying them!
Parsnips were my last week's impulse buy. They are in season now. I have tasted parsnips long back but this time they looked so fresh and crunchy that I had to have it! To be honest a parsnip soup was not on my mind when I bought them but it turned out to be great! I added kale purely for some color zing as parsnips are relatively pale in color but roasted garlic and rosemary are the main flavorings. This is a light soup and has more delicate flavors than my usual hearty soups. I enjoyed it with a bowl of leftover spaghetti and it turned out to be a great combination!
(Follow the read more link below for the rest of the recipe...)
Parsnips is a root vegetable of the carrot family. It looks more like mooli but has a starchy texture like potatoes and the flavor to me was a delicate mix of carrots and potatoes. It is a safe substitute for potatoes in most all dishes. It needs frost to grow and hence it can loosely be called a winter vegetable though parsnips are harvested in fall also. Okay, you know I am not an expert gardener (or any gardener for that matter.. :D) this info comes from here and here.
So, back to the Parsnip soup with kale & roasted garlic
Ingredients:
5 small parsnips
3 large kale leaves
1 small onion
3 celery sticks
1C vegetable broth + 4C water (can use all broth or all water)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4tsp dried rosemary (or fresh -- even better!)
1/4tsp red chili powder
1/4tsp paprika
juice of 1 lime
salt & pepper
Recipe:
Recipe:
- Preheat oven at 350F.
- First of all place garlic cloves on an aluminum foil (unpeeled). Add a bit of olive oil and roast unpeeled garlic cloves for 30-40mins. (Do not use upper third of the oven shelves, they tend to burn easily) Remove from oven and set aside.
- Then prepare the parsnips: peel the parsnips and trim off both the ends. Chop them into small pieces.
- Meanwhile heat 1Tbsp olive oil in a large soup pot on low-medium heat.
- Add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes until softened.
- Then add chopped celery and cook for a few more minutes.
- Add parsnips & kale to the soup pot.
- Add 1C vegetable broth and 4C water. Season with salt. Cook covered for 30-40minutes until the parsnips are soft and mushy. Add more water if the soup seems too thick.
- Take the soup pot off the heat. Add rosemary, paprika, chili powder. Peel the roasted garlic cloves. Discard the peel and add the roasted cloves to the soup pot.
- Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend the soup to the desired consistency.
- Add lime juice. Taste!! Adjust the seasonings to taste. Server hot!
A steaming hot bowl of this parsnip soup goes straight to Monthly mingle - winter vegetables and fruits hosted by Cook like a bong and brainchild of Whats for lunch, honey?
Till next time leaving you with this picture of parsnips that I took.. don't you think this is more like a bad boy picture? I almost wanted to caption it 'Parsnips with an attitude'! See you..
