The Soup Sister Cookbook, p31 Nettie Cronish Makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, washed and sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
  • 4 parsnips, peeled and diced
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
  • 6 cups (1.5L) vegetable stock
  • ¼ tsp (1 mL) grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream (35% MNF)
  • ½ cup (125 mL) diced, smoked chicken
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté leeks and garlic for 3 to 5 minutes, or until softened.
  2. Add parsnips, carrots, and apple and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
  3. Add stock and nutmeg to pot and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
  4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, for 30 minutes.
  5. Purée in batches in a food processor, transferring purée to a bowl until all vegetables from the cooking pot have been processed. Return puréed soup to pot and heat over medium heat.
  6. Stir in salt and pepper. Whisk in cream and heat through.
  7. Add the smoked heat through over medium heat.

Author Notes:

Look for firm medium-sized parsnips with smooth surfaces. Avoid the large parsnips if you can because they are often split and taste bitter, and their inner cores have a woody texture. Parsnips remind me of cream-coloured carrots you sometimes find at farmers’ markets, but sweeter and more buttery. Carrots and apples round out their flavour, and add a fresh taste to this soup.

The smoked chicken lends a “smoked chowder” note to the sweetness of the apple and root vegetables. If you can’t find smoked chicken, dice up some ham.

Blogger Notes:

The “Soup Sisiers” (my sister, daughter, nieces, and other family members) gathered on October 9, 2021 to make this fall soup. I chose this recipe intrigued by the combination of apple and parsnip. I don’t know if I have ever cooked with parsnips before. The parsnips I found at the store were quite large. I ate a raw slice while cooking and found it rather bitter – similar to a turnip. I was worried the soup might be bitter, but it wasn’t.

I was unable to find leek at two different grocery stores so I substituted several large shallots – I think I had 12.

I used a quart of vegetable stock and added 2 cups of chicken stock. Since I wanted to eat the soup as the main course for dinner I added at least 2 cups of chopped smoked chicken. My husband had smoked the chicken a couple days earlier for us. He smoked two chickens that day – one we ate for dinner, the other was saved for the soup.

I did not have a nutmeg to grate, so I used jarred nutmeg. My sister though did have a whole nutmeg and used her microplane. She reports the aroma was quite delightful. I look forward to using fresh nutmeg myself in the future.

I am a big fan of my immersion blender. SO much easier than blending hot soup in batches. It took at least three or four minutes of the immersion blender to get the soup extra creamy. The end result was a very lovely color.

Taste test is a big thumbs up. I loved the texture and am glad I added the extra chicken. I made cornbread muffins to go with the soup for our dinner.

I am looking forward to our next gathering in January. Meanwhile, with cooler weather upon us I am planning to ask my husband to make us Ham and Bean Soup.