Curried Parsnip Soup

I'd kind of given up including recipes in our newsletters as I can see by my sneaky control panel that not many of you read them. Still, this is a soup my lovely wife made the other day which I think deserves a mention. This one is the perfect winter warmer and makes use of all the lovely parsnips you have in the garden (hopefully).

Parsnips and Indian spices make a wonderful warming blend, you can play around with the curry powder depending on how spicy you like your soup by adjusting the amount or type of curry powder.

My wife seems to like soup the consistency of baby food which I struggle with to be honest, you can add a little more stock if you prefer.

Ingredients (Serves 6) 125g (4oz) butter 1.5kg (3lb) of parsnips, cleaned and chopped. 1 finely chopped onion. 1 diced potato 1 Tablespoon of reasonably hot curry powder - up to you. 1 teaspoon of ground tumeric. 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin. 1.8 litres or 3 pints of vegetable stock 150ml or 1/4 pint of double cream Salt and Pepper Snipped chives or finely chopped parsley to garnish

Method Melt the butter over a medium heat in a large heavy based saucepan. Add the parsnips, onion, potato, curry powder, tumeric and cumin and stir well. Cover and cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 mins. Add a little water at this point if you don't want to be reminded of sitting in your high chair.

Blend the soup in batches in a food processor or blender as you won't fit it all in. Transfer to a clean saucepan and re-heat gently while stirring in the cream, not to hot or the cream will separate. Serve immediately in warm soup bowls and garnish with the chives, parsley or as Marion says, whatever you're having yourself. If you want to go the whole hog serve with traditional naan bread.