Tuesday 20 September 2011

Recipes - Parsnip and Butternut Squash Soups

After my successful butternut squash curry the other day, I had a rather large chunk left over.  I also had some parsnips that I bought with the intention of making spicy parsnip soup but hadn't had the time!  Last night, I decided to do a quick search online for recipes and came up with two.  One with both butternut squash and parsnips reprinted with kind permission of Rachael at Fresh Approach Cooking and one with just parsnips from Allrecipes UK.

I had 5 parsnips and only needed 3 for the butternut squash and parsnip soup so also made the spicy parsnip soup that only needed 2 parsnips :)

I started with the combined one as the veg needed roasting for an hour...

Ingredients:
2 large brown onions, sliced in half
3 large parsnips, peeled, cut into halves
1 large butternut squash, sliced in half lengthways, seeds removed
3 sprigs thyme
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Apple cider vinegar
Roasted squash seeds for garnish


All ready and started peeling

Preheat your oven to 350F (180C)

Line a sheet pan with foil

Place the onions, parsnips and squash sliced side down on the foil lined sheet pan. Liberally coat the vegetables with olive oil (on all sides) toss on the thyme and some salt and pepper.

Roast about 1 hour, making sure to turn the parsnips half way through.

Ready to roast

I put them in to roast (using dried thyme as I had no fresh thyme) and started on soup no.2!

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 750ml boiling water
  • 1 stock cube
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 100ml double cream (I didn't have this as I thought I had coconut milk to use instead but didn't have any of that either when I checked!  Oops!)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Dried chilli pepper flakes or paprika to garnish  (I garnished with a dollop of sour cream and chive dip instead due to the above mentioned lack of creaminess!)


Making use of our fab Joseph & Joseph garlic rocker we received as a wedding gift!

Prep: 10 minsCook: 25 mins
1.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry the onion in butter until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the parsnips, garlic and curry powder, and fry for a couple of minutes to release the flavours.
2.
Boil the water in the kettle and mix with stock cube in a separate jug. Add to pan and stir well.
3.
Simmer for 15 mins until parsnips are soft and easy to break with a wooden spoon.
4.
Take off the heat and blend with hand mixer or food processor.
5.
Stir in the cream and warm through. (I left out this part due to lack of cream or coconut milk!)
6.
Season to taste and garnish with sour cream.




Final result - Delish!
We had that one for dinner last night with some freshly baked crust baguette!  It was yummy!  (Although I would say it only served 2 rather than 4 but then maybe we're just pigs!

I then carried on with soup no.1 after dinner...

Remove the pan from the oven when the onions and parsnips are browned and a knife inserted into the squash goes in smoothly. Remove the thyme and allow to cool somewhat.

Roasted veggies
I obviously didn't remove the thyme since I had used dried thyme.

The roasting process will have lifted the skin right off of the squash. You should be able to pick it off.

In small batches in your blender or food processor, puree the vegetables with the stock until smooth.  
(I just chopped the veg into smaller chunks and placed them into a large pan with the stock and used my hand blender so I could do it all in one go rather than batches)



At this point you have options. You can strain it, add cream or just leave it as is. (I left it as was)

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a tiny splash of apple cider vinegar (about 1/2 teaspoon to start), taste and add more as you see fit. It really perks it up. You'll be amazed.

Garnish with toasted squash seeds and thyme to serve. (I haven't served it yet so no pics I'm afraid!  Might have some tonight though!  I did have a wee drop for lunch and it was delish but a wee bit sweet for my taste due to the butternut squash - I might garnish with something spicy instead!)

Makes 8 - 10 servings


Final result in pan!

(To roast the squash seeds, clean them and toss with some vegetable oil, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, then put on a parchment lined sheet pan in a single layer and toast at 300F for 20 minutes. Remove when lightly browned. Keeps in a covered container for a week.)

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