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Lucy’s Spicy Parsnip Soup Recipe

September 30, 2015 by

Bedfordshire in Autumn

Crisp sunny but damp mornings, chunky knits, burnished and crimson leaves fluttering down from the trees. An abundance of apples, sloes, raspberries, potatoes and crunchy salad leaves. That’s what’s going down at The Smallest Smallholding this week. Autumn is also the season of root vegetables, which is partly why I love this time in the growing season.

As I mentioned in my last post, I love soups. I really do. I could eat soup for lunch and dinner at least five days a week (alternating with my three other favourite food groups – curry, chilli and beanburgers). I’ve already previously written about my leek and potato soup recipe, my garden soup recipe (courgette and pea) and my spicy autumn sup recipe. Here’s a new one for you that’s sure to warm the cockles on a chilly Autumn day – spicy parsnip soup.

I’ve never really been a fan of creamy soups, and as a vegan it’s a little bit of a hassle finding a suitable creamy alternative (though absolutely do-able). I’ve always eschewed the likes of cream in soup for creamy veggie alternatives – I find it’s easy easy as just picking the right variety of creamy, floury potato. So here’s my creamless but smooth, spicy and, above all, hearty spicy parsnip soup recipe.

Spicy parsnip soup recipe

Spicy parsnip soup recipe

Quick and Easy Spicy Parsnip Soup recipe (vegan/vegetarian)

Prep: About 10 minutes, less if you’re a fast chopper!

Ingredients (for a fairly large batch)

3 medium onions, diced
Vegetable oil  (rapeseed) or mild blend of cooking olive oil
3 large carrots, chopped roughly
2 medium floury potatoes (such as maris piper, desiree or picasso), diced
3 medium-large parsnips, chopped and diced
Vegetable stock (I use Marigold Vegan stock)

Spices:
Cumin
Garam masala
Ground cayenne pepper

Method
1. Sweat the onions until soft in the vegetable oil and then add the chopped carrots, potatoes and parsnips. Sweat for a further for 5-10 minutes making sure the veg doesn’t stick to the pan (a liberal dash of oil after you’ve added the veg will help prevent this)
2. Add boiling water, making sure to cover the veg by about 3/4 inch, followed by the veg stock powder. Add in a level dessert spoon or so of cumin and garam masala (mixed), and add a dash of cayenne pepper if you like an extra spicy kick. Add more spice to taste if you’re like me and love a heavily seasoned soup.
3. Bring to a rolling boil and then simmer until the veggies are soft and the potatoes are breaking apart easily.
4. Take off the heat, leave to cool for a few minutes and then whizz up with a hand blender. Add more boiling water from the kettle if you need to thin off the soup. I like mine hearty and thick.
5. Serve with crusty bread.

 

Filed Under: recipes, thrifty, veg Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Spicy autumn soup recipe

September 4, 2015 by

Root vegetables and cucurbits rule in Autumn, which is partly why it’s one of my most favourite times of the year. Here’s a hearty, warming spicy autumnal soup recipe for these chilly September days and nights.

Spicy autumn soup recipe with butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot

SPICY AUTUMN SOUP RECIPE (VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN)

Ingredients

Light olive oil blend or rapeseed oil
1 x medium butternut squash
1 x medium-large sweet potato
3 x medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 x floury potato (Picasso/Maris Piper/Desiree etc)
2 x large onions (red or white), peeled and diced
Salt & cracked black pepper
Generous heap of curry powder (or garam masala and cumin) plus sprinkle of ground cayenne pepper
Vegetable stock (Marigold)

Method

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6/400F/200C
2. Chop the butternut squash into thick wedges, chop the carrots and sweet potato into chunks, sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper if desired and roast in the oven in the oil until soft and slightly charred on the edges – this should take about half an hour.
3. Meanwhile, boil the potato until fluffy
4. When the roasted veggies are almost done, start softening the onions in a pan.
5. Once the veggies have roasted, if you’ve left the skin on the squash, allow to cool and scoop away the squash flesh from the skin. Then add into the saucepan with all roasted veggies and potato.
6. Add a generous splash of vegetable stock (make sure the water is boiling) to cover the vegetables with about half an inch over the top. Add the curry powder, cumin or ground cayenne pepper. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5-8 minutes to reduce the water content down.
7.Take off the heat and blend with a hand blender. If too thick, add some more vegetable stock and blend again.

Serve with thick, crusty bread, grab yourself a book or find a film, and enjoy!

Filed Under: foodie, recipes, thrifty, veg, vegan Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s time for tea, tea and more tea

December 28, 2014 by

Adagio loose leaf apple spiced chai

In the post-Christmas wind-down, Rich and I have both managed to catch the lurgie. Whilst we’re not particularly full of cold, we’re not able to control our temperatures very well (lots of being covered in blankets and clutching of hot water bottles going on), sore throats, and much fatigue. So boring. So it’s been somewhat of a relief and good timing to review some soothing, healthy teas from Adagio.

When I was contacted and asked whether I’d be interested in reviewing these loose-leaf tea blends, I jumped at the chance. 2015 is going to be a year focused on regaining my health, strength and fitness so finding a drinkable alternative to sugar-free squash is a good start. I requested for them to send over a selection of healthy teas since I’m not a black tea drinker at all (although Rich is, he could easily down six or more cups in a day).

They arrived before Christmas but we had to wait until Christmas Day for Rich to open his new swish OXO tea ball strainer, so that we could brew the loose leaf tea properly. We’ve since been sampling the various blends, including Spiced Apple Chai (my favourite so far), foxtrot (“a herbal cocktail of Egyptian chamomile, South African rooibos (with a touch of vanilla) and fresh peppermint”), Hojicha, Berry Blues (“a smooth and slightly tart blend of blueberries, apple pieces and hibiscus flowers”) as well as a whole host of loose leaf green tea blends.

Loose leaf spiced apple chai tea

The spiced apple chai loose leaf tea in the OXO good grips tea twisting ball strainer… enough for 3-4 mugs of tea

I’ve struggled in the past with pure green tea – although at one point I had “trained” myself to down a small pot within a morning at work – so for me, a green tea blend is a great way to try and stay hydrated and enjoy the various health benefits of green tea. The ball-type tea strainer we have has been really useful in helping us to achieve the strength of tea flavour that we want, and we’ve been able to share one scoops’ worth of tea in two cups easily, so there’s value for money to be had there.

I haven’t tried all of the teas yet, but I’m looking forward to taking them to work (the smaller samples come into foil fresh resealable packets) and being able to enjoy a proper cup of something calming and healthy whilst I work, rather than coming home wired and tired!

Filed Under: fruit, herbs, product review, vegan Tagged With: , , , , , , ,