Vegetarian Christmas starter recipe for 6 people, takes only 45 mins; recipe has olive oil, onion, parsnip, milk, vegetable stock, bay leaf, parsley, double cream, whipping cream, parsnip and olive oil.
Parsnip soup with parsley cream
Course: Vegetarian Christmas starter
Servings
6
servings
Prep time
40 mins
Ingredients
- Olive Oil: 1 tbsp olive oil
- Onion: 1 onion, finely chopped
- Vegetable Stock: 400ml vegetable stock
- Milk: 400ml milk
- Parsley: 2 x 80g packs curly parsley
- Bay Leaf: 3 bay leaves
- Parsnip: 700g parsnips, cut into chunks
- Whipping Cream: 150ml whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
- Double Cream: 150ml double cream
Directions
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until soft but not coloured. Stir in the parsnips, bay leaves, milk and stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the parsnip is very soft. Remove the bay leaves and drain off, but reserve, the liquid. Whizz the parsnips in a blender, adding a little of the cooking liquid at a time until smooth. Keep adding liquid until you reach a lovely soup consistency that's not too thick.
- For the parsley puree and cream, blanch the parsley in boiling salted water for 30 secs, then refresh in ice water - this keeps the green colour. Repeat this twice. Bring the double cream to the boil. Squeeze out any water from the parsley, then whizz in a clean blender, slowly adding the hot cream until it's as smooth as you can get it. Cool. Fold a little of the parsley puree through the whipped cream until nice and green. Season and chill. Keep the remaining puree for serving.
- For the garnish, blanch the parsnip cubes in boiling water for 2 mins, then drain. Heat the olive oil in a pan, and fry the cubes until golden. Keep warm.
- To serve, reheat the parsnip soup and season to taste. Place a little of the parsley puree into each of 6 shallow soup bowls, followed by the soup, a spoonful of the parsley whipped cream and some fried parsnip cubes.
