Parsnip & chestnut soup with porcini mushrooms - from Sharpham cook Janet

---

A deep-tasting winter soup that warms and feeds your soul and body!

---

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 250g parsnips
• 50g peeled and cooked chestnuts
• 1 apple
• 1 packet dried porcini mushrooms (or 50g fresh)
• Chili flakes
• Small bunch of parsley
• Good vegetable stock
• 60ml crème fraiche or vegan cream

 

How to make this dish

---

Begin by soaking the porcini in boiling water, cover and leave to soak.

Slice the onion, leek and 2 cloves of garlic and fry with the bay leaf in olive oil or butter on a medium heat till soft.

Peel and chop the parsnips into small chunks and add to the pot, stirring into the onion. Chop the chestnuts, peel and core then chop the
apple and add to the pot with 1 litre of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes till the parsnip is tender.

Remove the bay leaf and blend till smooth adding the crème fraiche or vegan cream and season to taste. Keep the soup on a low heat till ready to serve.

Drain the porcini then slice them. Crush the other two garlic cloves and chop the parsley finely. In a frying pan on a medium heat, fry the garlic with a few chili flakes for a couple of minutes before adding the porcini, then cook together for a few minutes until the mushrooms are soft and garlicky.

Add the parsley, mixing it in. When ready to serve the soup, pile a little of the mushrooms on the top.

---

Pictures by Janet