Sunday, January 20, 2013

Parsnip and Leek Soup

For the past week I have been thinking about Potato and Leek Soup. I always loved potato and bacon soup, which is odd considering how much I dislike potato's on their own, and recently I have fallen in love with leeks. I have heard of potato and leek soup before, but given that potato's are no longer on the menu, and had to come up with something new. I've heard that mashed parsnips are delicious, so I thought to myself - why not create a soup out of Parsnips and Leeks?

So I set to work but as I puttered around my kitchen I realized....I have no idea what kind of spices go into potato and leek soup. None the less, I continued determined that I would use my nose to guide me as I so often do.  As I began I started to sing this song:


"Are you going to Scarborough fair - parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme..."

And thus was born the inspiration for the herbs and spices. I figured if the combination was good enough to be in a song than it must be pretty good. Ha.

So here's what you'll need:

3 Large Parsnips
4-5 Strips of cooked Bacon
2 Shallots (or half an onion), chopped
1/2 Cup Leeks Chopped 
1/2 - 1 Cup of Coconut Milk
1 Cup of Water
1/4 TSP of Sea Salt
1/2 TSP Black Pepper
1 TSP Parsley
1 TSP Thyme
1 TSP Rosemarry
1 TSP Sage

(Sorry about the picture here - soup is hard to photograph!)

Directions: Chop and steam the parsnips over a large pot of water, until the parsnips are tender and soft. While the parsnips are steaming, cook the bacon in a medium pan until nice and crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and allow to cool. While the bacon is cooled saute the leek and shallot in the left over bacon fat until the onion is transparent. Remove from heat. Put the steamed parsnips in your blender or food processor with one cup of water and blend until smooth. You could use the coconut milk here, but it's so cold here that usually coconut milk is solid here until put over heat. Once smooth, pout the parsnips into a pot on low, and allow to simmer. Add the leeks, shallots, coconut milk, salt, pepper and herbs to the pot. The bacon should be cool by now and will break apart quite easily. Break the bacon into little bits and add them to the soup. Stir everything together and allow it to simmer for 20-30 minutes on low.  Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment