This Easy Parsnip and Apple Soup is a delicious combination of parsnips, bramley apples, onions, potatoes and just a touch of thyme. Not only is it delicious, but it’s packed with nutritional goodness, it counts as at least 2 of your 5 a day and only contains 268 calories!
Place the olive oil and diced onions in a fairly large saucepan and gently fry for 3 minutes, with the lid on, until softened but not brown. Stir occasionally.
Turn the heat up high and add the parsnips. Fry with the lid off, stirring regularly, until the parsnips and onions are nicely browned. (Take care not to burn them!)
Turn the heat back down and add the chopped potato and apple, and stir to combine all the vegetables. (See Note 5)
Then add the vegetable stock, thyme, salt and pepper. Turn up the heat again to bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on, or until the vegetables are quite soft.
Tip the soup into a blender and blitz until completely smooth. PLEASE TAKE CARE AS THE SOUP WILL BE VERY HOT! (See Note 6.)
If necessary, return the blended soup back to the saucepan and warm back up to your desired temperature. Add more water if the soup is too thick for your liking. You may also wish to check the seasoning at this point too.
Serve with homemade bread.
Notes
I find the best potatoes for this recipe are the kind that are sold as ‘baking potatoes’ or ‘jacket potatoes’.
You must use bramley apples or you won’t be able to taste the flavour of apple in this recipe.
Only use the thyme leaves in this recipe. Pull the leaves off the stems by pinching the top of the stem between two fingers and pulling downwards along the stem. Discard the stems.
I prefer to only add black pepper to this soup, as the salt content of the stock cube makes this soup salty enough for my tastes.
Make sure you turn the heat down and add the extra veggies first BEFORE you add the stock. If you add the stock straight into the parsnips, the stock will bubble violently and may splash you (or make a mess of your stove!)
If you prefer, you can use a stick blender or leave the soup un-blended.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.