Parsnip soup

I’ve finally managed to harvest the parsnips. You need to wait until the leaves die down before lifting them, but that was in the middle of Christmas. When I finally had a few minutes to spare, it was raining heavily.

Not ideal, but once the mud was washed off, there were several kilos of wonderful fresh, home-grown parsnips.

Much of what I grow in the Genus vegetable garden is made into soup so I, and all the visitors who come to Field Cottage, can enjoy the produce right through the year. The two parsnip soups I chose this time were really successful so I’d like to recommend them to you.

Creamy parsnip and apple soup

I used this brilliant recipe from the BBC food pages.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/creamy_parsnip_and_apple_35005

Unfortunately, I don’t have a Bramley apple tree, so the apples are shop bought. I’m thinking about planting a Bramley this year, as it’s so useful to have cooking apples for pies, desserts and of course for this soup.

Spicy roasted parsnip soup

The other parsnip soup I made was also from one of the BBC food sites.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3198/spicy-roasted-parsnip-soup. This is wonderfully tasty, not too spicy.

In both recipes, the onions and garlic came from the garden, so I would say I’m some way towards being self-sufficient, even if that’s not my aim.