Saturday, October 17, 2009

Spicy roasted parsnip soup

Just the thing for an autumn day

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
½tsp coriander seeds freshly ground
½tsp cumin seeds freshly ground, plus extra whole seeds to garnish
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp mustard seeds freshly ground
2 sprigs fresh thyme. Leaves stripped and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
500g parsnips, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 plum tomatoes, finely chopped
1.2L vegetable stock

Method
Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. In a bowl, mix together the oil and spices. Add the parsnip chunks, peeled garlic cloves and the thyme leaves and mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins until tender.

In a pan gently sauté the onion in some olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and sauté for a minute or two.
Add the roasted parsnip chunks give a good stir, then turn the heat up and add half the stock. Bring to a simmer.

Put into a food processor or liquidiser and process until smooth, adding more stock as necessary. Pour back into the pan with any remaining stock, season to taste, then heat until barely simmering. Remove from the heat and serve. Garnish with whole cumin seeds.