Roasted parsnip and parmesan
This roasted parsnip and parmesan soup is based on a favourite recipe from the New Covent Soup Company Cookbook that I bought in London many years ago. I would often pick up a carton of their soup from the supermarket on my way home from work.
The New Convent Garden Soup Company was established more than 30 years and it’s still going strong. I love my collection of cookbooks from my travels, especially as the rest of the world seems rather far away from Australia right now.
Roasting the parsnips with the parmesan cheese delivers a beautiful, rich flavour. People often discard the woody centre of the parsnip. Simmering the parsnips first softens them, and helps them to retain their moisture when roasted. I roasted a whole head of garlic and an onion for good measure, and threw it in with the stock.
I also like to save the ends of my chunks of parmesan cheese to use in soups and risottos. You can add a swirl of cream to this soup just before serving if you like.
Serve the soup with some focaccia or crusty bread. I love the tomato and olive focaccia from my local bakery, the Organic Bread Bar.
More winter soups
Do you have a favourite comforting winter soup? Here are some other winter soups you might like to try:
Roasted beetroot and cinnamon soup
Best wishes,
Amanda
PS: If you’ve tried this roasted parsnip and parmesan soup or any other recipe from At Amanda’s Table, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below.
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Roasted Parsnip and Parmesan Soup
Ingredients
- 2 large parsnips, about 500 g or 4 small parsnips
- 1 brown onion, unpeeled
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups vegetable stock (1L)
- sea salt and black pepper
- 1 parmesan rind optional
- 1 cup cream, to serve optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160° fan-forced) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Roughy chop the parsnips and simmer them in plenty of salted of water for 3 minutes, then drain.
- Sprinkle the parsnips with half the grated parmesan and drizzle with olive oil. Place the whole onion and head of garlic next to the parsnip on the tray.
- Roast the garlic for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and set aside.
- Roast the parsnips and onion for about 45 minutes. The parsnips are done when pierced easily with a knife.
- When cool enough to handle, peel the onion and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins.
- Place the cooked parmesan, peeled onion and garlic, parmesan rind and 3 cups of the stock into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the parmesan rind.
- Allow the soup to cool for ten minutes, then puree with a hand-held blender. If the soup is too thick, add the remaining cup of stock until it's thin enough to your liking. If you're adding the cream, you may prefer to omit the extra stock.
- Season to taste, add the remaining grated parmesan to each portion and serve immediately.
Notes
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