Parsnip and Ginger Soup

Happy New Year! Apologies that it has been somewhat quiet on the Keston Kitchen front in recent weeks. One of our New Year resolutions is definitely to be more active on the blog and keep you up to date with what is cooking in our kitchen.

For our first post Christmas post I thought I would choose a recipe that should help combat the January blues. The ginger in the soup gives it a kick that feels like it is banishing any hint of a cough or sneeze as you consume it.
It is a simple and cheap recipe to make and it provides you with a healthy and hearty supper which definitely won't break any of you New Year resolutions (unless you have given up parsnips of course)!
This soup is based on a recipe taken from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new vegetarian cook book which I was lucky enough to get for my birthday.

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients:
Glug of olive oil
Chunk of butter (about 1 tbsp)
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1-2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped (add more or less depending on how fiery you would like it to be)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 parsnips (about 500g) peeled and cut into small chunks
600ml vegetable stock (add 3tsp of Marigold Bouillon to some boiling water or use homemade stock)
200ml whole milk
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Coriander leaves and/or a drizzle of natural yogurt to garnish

Method:
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan and cook the onion for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned. Then add the garlic, fresh ginger, cumin and cayenne, stir in. Add the chopped parsnips to the pan before adding the hot veg stock, milk and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Once simmering, cover the pan with a lid but leave a small gap to stop the pot boiling over.
After simmering for 20-30 minutes use a hand blender to puree the soup in the pan or allow it to cool a little and transfer it to a food processor until smooth. Heat the soup up again before serving. Trickle some natural yogurt over each bowl full and add a few coriander leaves if you have them, then enjoy with a hunk of crusty bread on the side.

Best served on a weekday evening to housemates who have just returned from a run/swim/which ever sport they have embraced for their January health kick.

Rachael x