Spicy Parsnip and Ginger Soup

Here is my other fave soup (along with the chorizo one here  and home made mushroom soup) i got sick of normal parsnip soup so tried to make my own version

Sorry if its a bit rough but i tend to do it out of my head when i make it so just add extra bits to taste

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 parsnips – peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 litres of Chicken stock
• 1 fresh red chilli, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes (i usually use 2 but that makes it quite firey)
• Grated ginger (to taste) i usually use a good thumb sized piece
• Honey or maple syrup.
• 1 onion or leek finely chopped
• splash of milk (optional)
• A couple of knobs of nutter
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees
• Par boil the parsnips in some water, then drain, add a knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil to a frying pan and heat, add the parsnips and fry for a few mins until slightly browned, sprinkle with chilli flakes ,ginger and drizzle the honey over, fry for a few more minutes.
• Empty the parsnips onto a baking tray and bake until nice and golden,  (you can skip this step by keeping them in the pan longer but i always end up burning the honey)
• In the meantime fry the onion in a knob of butter until soft and then add the garlic.
• When the parsnips are ready, mix them with the onion.
• Blend with the milk and stock until you have your desired consistency, i usually strain the soup to remove lumps and then liquidise the lumps with the remaining stock until the soup is nice and smooth and creamy.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper

If you prefer thicker soup you can add a potato or 2 or leave the parsnip lumps in.

I like to serve it with homemade parsnip crisps on the top and homemade bread.