Saturday, June 28, 2008

Parsnip Soup

Weekend Herb Blogging returns home as Kalyn is hosting - this week I'm revisiting a winter root - parsnip

parsnip © haalo

I've previously posted about parsnip for Weekend Herb Blogging but in that case I used it to make a Chocolate and Parsnip Loaf.

Parsnip, due to its high levels of potassium can help reduce blood pressure and needless to say, a recent event has certainly raised my blood pressure so I can use all the parsnip I can get.

To bolster the comfort factor that I'm seeking at the moment, I'll be making a soothing and creamy parsnip soup with a slightly indulgent twist.

parsnip soup ©


Parsnip Soup

300 grams grated parsnip
150 grams grated potato
1 leek, sliced finely
sea salt and pepper
milk

Heat a little oil and a knob of butter in a saucepan over a low heat and when the butter has melted, add the sliced leek.

Allow the leek to slowly soften without colouring - while this is happening, you can prepare the parsnip and potato.

Peel the parsnips and then grate them - usually I would cut the parsnip into even sized pieces but I thought I'd try cutting down the cooking time and therefore, hopefully, keep more of the nutrients within the potato.

Peel the potatoes and grate them - remove the excess moisture by squeezing the grated potato between your hands.

By this stage the leek should have softened, so add both the parsnip and potato to the pan. Give it a brief stir before adding enough milk to just cover the vegetables.

Simmer until the vegetables have softened - taste and add salt and white pepper to suit.

Blend the soup until thick and creamy - an immersion or stick blender does this best. Pour the blended soup into a cleaned pan and bring it slowly back up to temperature, being careful not to allow the soup to boil. You may need to add extra milk if you feel the soup is too thick.

parsnip soup ©


To make the soup a little more special, I've incorporated what might seem at first to be an unusual ingredient - truffle chocolate

truffle chocolate ©

This is pure cocoa mass that has been infused with truffle - not the chocolate truffle, the tuber Truffle - as soon as you open the package that incredible truffle aroma just wafts up to greet you. This product is not meant to be eaten like chocolate but rather used as a finishing touch - for example, it can grated over pasta or risotto where the warmth of the dish will melt the cocoa leaving you with that truffle flavour.

If you don't have any fresh truffles on hand then this is certainly a novel way of enjoying the truffle experience.

7 comments

  1. Great post! I love the addition of the truffle chocolate at the end, really an unusual twist to the recipe.

    I'm having e-mail trouble and didn't get an e-mail from you, but I will send myself the link.

    (I just hope there aren't a lot of people I've missed because of the e-mail, which comcast tells me is fine.)

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  2. truffle chocolate, I'm impressed!!
    I'd like to share another way I've enjoyed parsnip soup: parsnip paired with bramley apple, sweet 'n sour 'n aromatic:)

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  3. Thanks Kalyn - emails are always flaky.

    Thanks Heart - sound delish and I had been thinking of trying parsnip with pear, maybe I'll do both and see how it works!

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  4. AnonymousJuly 02, 2008

    I've always wanted to try parsnips.. Nice twist with the truffled chocolate.

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  5. I'm in awe at all the interesting ingredients you manage to source. Where did you get the truffle chocolate from? I'd love to buy some too.

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  6. Unfortunately Y, the chocolate came back with us from Italy and I can't believe it has taken us this long to finally open it - now I keep looking at dishes and thinking, hmm, it could use some truffle chocolate!

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