Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Soup

Parsnips are one of my favourite vegetables. When out of season, I have to buy frozen for my roast dinner. Nothing makes sense without them if I'm honest. I am growing my own this year and I really hope they do well, because if homegrown carrots are anything to go by. Well, I'm in for a treat. The sugar content in a parsnip is higher than that of carrots, so they go super sweet when roasted. That's the important step in this soup, roasting the parsnips.

A parsnip is notoriously known for taking an age to soften, but if you chop them into half inch sections, they'll be done in 25 minutes. Nothing worse than roasting vegetables and them still being hard when you serve them up. Parsnips go great with carrots, so you could always roast a couple and blend them into the soup. Bet that would be absolutely delicious in all honesty. Or you could thicken the soup by blending it with some potatoes. So many possibilities.

Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Soup

Serves: 4Prep time: 10 minsCook time: 30 minsTotal time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 4-5 parsnips (around 200g)
• 1 litre vegetable stock*
• 1 brown onion, chopped finely
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Mixed seeds, toasted (optional)

*I used two stock cubes for 1 litre of water.

Directions

1. Chop your parsnips into half inch sections and lay them out flat on a baking tray, drizzle on 1 tbsp olive oil and toss to coat. Pop them in the oven at 210c for 25 mins until soft.
2. Whilst your parsnips are in the oven, add chopped onion and minced garlic to a pan with a tbsp olive oil. Cook until softened and caramalised, around 10 mins.
3. Add salt, pepper and stock. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
4. When parsnips are done, add them to the stock and blend the mixture until smooth with a hand blender. Or simply pour it into a blender, being careful not to burn yourself.