Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup

In case you hadn’t noticed, I make a lot of soup.  Soup is good. Most of my soups are tomato based and often include lentils, spinach, different spices and some kind of sausage. I’ve been looking to make something different and healthier. I have read various recipes that used roasted cauliflower, but they relied on too many spices. I found one recipe that used roasted cauliflower and roasted parsnips. Pure magic. I adapted the recipe so that the sweetness of the parsnips would be the dominant flavor. Instead of roasting the spices with the vegetables, I added them later into the chicken stock. Instead of roasting the onions, I sautéed them in olive oil. My new friend, the Immersion Blender, made sure the soup was creamy.

1 head of cauliflower  roughly cut into pieces

3 parsnips, peeled and evenly cut into pieces

1 large onion, diced

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. dried thyme

½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. paprika

2 Bay leaves

4 cups of chicken stock (32 oz. container)

½ cup of half n half or sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Put the cauliflower and parsnips in a bowl and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the vegetables. Place the vegetables onto a cookie sheet and roast for 30 minutes. Every 10 minutes stir the vegetables so they don’t burn. You want them to have some color and soften.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat a large pan and cover the bottom with olive oil. Sauté the onions until they are translucent. You don’t want to caramelize the onions, just soften. Pour in chicken stock. Add spices and bring to a simmer.

After the cauliflower and parsnips are roasted, place them into chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes.

Shut off the burner, remove the bay leaves and place your immersion blender directly in the pan. Puree this mixture until creamy. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can do this is  in a blender. I would do it in several small batches being careful with the hot liquids.

Bring the soup to a simmer and add the bay leaves back in. Once it simmers, add the half n half. If you don’t want to use dairy, you can add water or more chicken stock. You can make the soup as thick as you’d like. Stir the soup, shut off the heat and put the lid back on the pan.

Let the soup sit for 5 minutes.  This soup took under an hour to make. I was in a race with time as hubby needed to be on a conference call at 10am. That Immersion Blender would have interfered with his training. I was done minutes before his call.

I was so excited about making this soup I forgot to take pictures of the roasted vegetables. So here is the link to the original recipe which features some wonderful pictures: http://www.spoonforkbacon.com/2014/01/roasted-cauliflower-parsnip-soup/

Are you as tired as me of this green Le Creuset? If anyone’s interested I would like a dark blue oval one. Just sayin’…..

Make soup today, okay?