Parsnip Soup

Parsnip is one of those vegetables badly in need of a good Press agent. It's a neglected food source and I'd like to spearhead its return to popularity by offering one excellent recipe for its use - as a soup.

Young parsnips are best for this but, unless you grow your own, you might have some trouble determining the age of the roots you intend to use, so get round this by discarding the woody center core and following the recipe as given below. It will serve six people.

You need:

• 1kg (about 2lbs) chopped parsnips
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 sliced leek
• 80g clarified butter (ghee)
• 1 tsp medium curry paste
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic
• the seeds from 4 cardamom pods *
• 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5lites (about 3 pints) vegetable stock
• 100ml pouring cream
• juice of half a lemon

Bear with me, this recipe is much simpler than it would appear from the list of ingredients.

First off melt the butter in a thick bottomed saucepan until foaming. Add the parsnips, onion and leeks and stir while cooking over a moderate heat until the vegetables are soft. Then stir in the curry paste and allow that to cook into the mix, which will take about 2 minutes.

Add the garlic, cardamom seeds, coriander and cumin, stirring well. Cook for a further 2 minutes and then stir in the stock. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

You now have a choice. You can push this mixture through a sieve, a mouli grinder, or process it in a blender. It really doesn't matter which you use, although each will produce different results in terms of thickness and texture. The point is you will still have a delicious soup.

Finish it off by adjusting the seasoning with salt and white pepper and then stirring the lemon juice (do not whisk it) into the cream. Using a tablespoon, add a swirl of cream to each bowl of soup. Serve with garlic bread.

* You can buy jars of cardamom pods in your local supermarket. To extract the seeds, lay the pods on a chopping board, place the flat of a knife blade or cleaver over them and thump it with the side of your fist. You can then easily remove the seeds from the husk.

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