Nuccaleena

I am writing this to boast! I’m quite proud of myself really. Some guests that stayed at Moolooloo Shearer’s Quarters recently left us a large bag of parsnips, we had some roasted with our corned beef last night…they were delicious, but I thought I would be testing my luck to get the kids to eat them again! So I decided to make a parsnip soup – when I told Keith he raised his eyebrows and gave me THAT look followed by “You know I eat everything you make!” – which I’m not quite sure which way to take! Luck has it that I have a parsnip loving guinea pig here today (aka our Flinders Ranges Itinerant Teacher!), so I trialled it for lunch. Got the thumbs up – at that point I told everyone what was in it, which of course made the kids groan! A success none the less! Good enough to pass on, here ’tis:

INGREDIENTS

1 kg parsnips

1.5kg potatoes

2 onions (diced)

2 Tbsp Oil

1 rash of bacon diced

1 clove garlic

1/2 cauliflower

2 sticks of celery (diced)

2L chicken stock (or enough to generously cover vegetables)

Salt & Freshly cracked black pepper

2 Tbsp of chopped chives

2 Tbsp of chopped parsley

1/2 cup of cream (optional)

1. In a large pot fry diced onion and celery in oil
2. Peel and roughly chop other vegetables, garlic and bacon. Add to pot and fry for a couple of minutes until coated in oil.
3. Add chicken stock – make sure that it covers veggies. Season (I like lots of cracked pepper). Boil on stove for around an hour – or until veggies are tender enough to mash. You may need to top up liquid (chicken stock or water is fine).
4. Add herbs and stir through. Take off heat and blend or mash to achieve desired consistency.
5. Add cream and stir through. Serve with fresh crusty bread!

I hope you enjoy this one as much as we all did. Lord knows you don’t even need to like parsnip, just ask Miss 6! Just goes to show that you can whack just about anything in a pot with stock, blend it up until ingredients are no longer recognizable and even the most savvy disapproving child will eat it!