In her fascinating book The Flavour Thesaurus, Nicky Segnit writes that the compound 3-sec-butyl-2-methoxypyrazine, which has a slightly musty, green-pea quality is present at higher levels in parsnip than any other vegetable. She suggests pairing parsnips with peas in a winter soup. Here I used mangetout (snow peas) for a bright flavour. You could substitute sugar snap peas. I added some subtle curry spices which always work in parsnip soup.
Ingredients
30g butter
½ a large onion, chopped
2 very large cloves of garlic (or 6 small cloves)
1 thumb of fresh ginger
400g parsnips, peeled and chopped into small chunks
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 small hot green chillies, chopped.
155g mangetout (snow peas), roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Lemon juice
Chilli flakes
Method.
Ingredients
30g butter
½ a large onion, chopped
2 very large cloves of garlic (or 6 small cloves)
1 thumb of fresh ginger
400g parsnips, peeled and chopped into small chunks
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 small hot green chillies, chopped.
155g mangetout (snow peas), roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Lemon juice
Chilli flakes
Method.
- Melt the butter in a deep pan (I used a wok). Add the chopped onion and fry gently until softened.
- Grate the garlic and ginger into the pan (I use a microplane). Cook for a few minutes and then add the spices and chilli. Cook for a further few minutes.
- Add the chopped parsnips plus 400ml of water (I use boiling water). Bring to simmering point and cook until the parsnips are tender. This will take approximately 15- 20 minutes.
- Add the chopped mangetout plus 200ml of water. Bring to simmering point and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Blend the soup until smooth. I used a stick blender, straight into the pan. If the texture is too thick, add a little more water and heat through.
- Add salt to taste and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Serve sprinkled with red chill flakes
