Yield
1 litre or about 4 generous portions

1kg parsnips
80ml grape seed oil
1 Onion – peeled and finely sliced
4 cloves garlic – peeled and finely sliced
Salt and pepper
3 sprigs thyme
50ml milk
A drop of fresh lemon

Peel the parsnips and reserve the trim. Cut the tops and thin ends off the parsnip and reserve this with your peelings.
Cut off the nice fleshy white parts of the parsnips (around the core) slice the core and put it in with your peelings. Cut the flesh into small pieces and set aside separately.
Place the parsnip peelings and core in a saucepan and cover with 2 litres of water, bring to a simmer over a moderate heat and allow to cook gently for 20 minutes and strain through a fine sieve pushing through all the juices. This is your parsnip stock, which will become the base of your soup.
Heat another saucepan over a low heat and add the oil, followed by the sliced onions and garlic, season well with the salt and pepper, sweat for about 5 minutes without colour, add the thyme followed by the reserved parsnip flesh and sweat for a further 5 minutes without colour, then add you parsnip stock. Bring the soup to the boil simmer gently for 20 minutes until the parsnip is soft and the soup is aromatic. Add the milk and bring back to the simmer, blitz in a liquidiser until velvet smooth, check the seasoning and strain through a fine sieve. Serve hot.

Go back