Anne Morgan After an hour of gentle, lidless simmering, Delia Smith’s parsnip soup is blended smooth and finished with a grated Bramley apple. The parsnips cook with onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger and three whole spices, toasted in a dry pan until they jump. It makes 6 bowls, each topped with a tangle of fried parsnip crisps.
It sits among the warming soups in her Winter Collection (1995), named for its curry spices and the apple. The idea is a balance. The parsnips bring the sweetness, and the apple sharpens it, while the spices stay subtle rather than hot.
The same toasted-seed start goes into her carrot soup with coriander, but here there are three kinds of seed and a whole hour on the hob.
Her Vegetarian Collection (2002) and The Delia Collection: Soup (2003) both print it again, crisps and all. In the Winter Collection it shares the soup chapter with her Polish beetroot soup.
Delia Smith’s Curried Parsnip and Apple Soup with Parsnip Crisps
Course: StarterCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes1
hour20
minutes295
kcalSmooth and gently spiced, naturally sweet, with a little sharpness from the apple and a crunch of crisps on top.
Ingredients
- For the soup:
700g (1½lb) young parsnips
40g (1½oz) butter
1 tablespoon groundnut oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1.2 litres (2 pints) well-flavoured stock
1 medium Bramley apple, about 175g (6oz)
1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
1 rounded teaspoon cumin seeds
6 cardamom pods, seeds only
1 rounded teaspoon turmeric
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the parsnip crisps:
1 medium to large parsnip, 275-350g (10-12oz)
6 tablespoons groundnut oil
salt
Directions
- Toast: Dry-fry the coriander, cumin and cardamom seeds in a small pan for 2 to 3 minutes, until they darken and start to jump, then crush them finely.
- Soften: In a large saucepan of about 3.5 litres, heat the butter and oil until the butter foams. Cook the onion gently for 5 minutes, add the garlic for 2 minutes more, then stir in the crushed spices, turmeric and ginger and let them cook gently for a few minutes.
- Simmer: Meanwhile, peel the parsnips and cut them into 2.5cm dice. Stir them in, pour in the stock, season, and simmer as gently as possible, uncovered, for 1 hour.
- Blend: Take the pan off the heat and liquidise the soup until smooth, then return it to the pan and check the seasoning.
- Crisps: Peel the crisp parsnip and slice it into the thinnest rounds you can. Heat the oil in a 25cm frying pan until almost smoking and fry the slices in batches for 2 to 3 minutes, until browned. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.
- Apple: Reheat the soup very gently. As it just comes to a simmer, peel the apple and grate it straight into the pan, then let it barely simmer for only 3 to 4 minutes. Serve in hot bowls with the crisps on top.
Notes
- Young parsnips are what she asks for. Big old ones can have a woody core, which I'd cut out before dicing.
- The crisps twist into odd shapes and brown unevenly in the hot oil, and that's how they're meant to look.
FAQs
Do I have to make the parsnip crisps?
No, they’re a garnish. She suggests them for when you’re entertaining, and they can be fried up to a couple of hours ahead, as they stay crisp.
Why does the apple go in at the end?
It’s grated in raw and barely cooked, just a few minutes at a simmer. My own reading is that this keeps its sharp bite, which is the whole point of the apple against the sweet parsnips.
How spicy is it?
Only gently. There’s no chilli, only warm spices, and she describes their flavour as subtle. It’s curried in the gentle, fragrant sense, so it suits children too, which is my own view.
What if I don’t have a liquidiser?
She says a food processor followed by a sieve works, or even just a sieve, pushing the soup through with the back of a ladle. A stick blender in the pan, my own shortcut, is quickest of all.
Can I freeze parsnip soup?
Yes, though I’d freeze it before the apple goes in, which is my own tip, and keep it for up to a month. Thaw it in the fridge, reheat it gently and grate in the apple just before serving, so it keeps its bite.
Make the crisps on the day, as they soften in the freezer.
What stock should I use?
Her list simply asks for a well-flavoured stock. Since her Vegetarian Collection prints the soup too, a good vegetable stock suits it as well as chicken.
