Apple Parsnip Soup

This is another recipe not from the Beekman cookbook. I've been all over any recipe with apples in it because it's the time of year where I can get them fresh from an orchard. I've been buying apples a couple times a week now, all different kinds.

For this recipe, I used golden delicious apples because they were what I had on hand. They worked well in the soup.

First I had to roast them together to soften them. Before you put your parsnips in, cut them up. I didn't, and I had to take them out of the oven and cut them up while they were hot and juicy.

When you wrap them in the aluminum foil, put some olive oil in there and a little salt. 

They can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to roast. During this time, you can go do other things. Watch some Walking Dead on Netflix. Practice your guitar. Chop up the other ingredients. 

As you can see, I have some celery leaves, celery, and a shallot all chopped up and waiting to be added.

I then went off to do other things, waiting until there was about 5-10 minutes left in the roasting process.

At that point in time I began to boil about 4 or 5 cups of chicken broth. On another burner, I heated up a pat of butter (1 tbsp approximately), and I put the celery and shallot in there until the shallots started to brown a little and the celery softened.

When the parsnips and apples were done roasting and the celery and shallots were good to go, I added them to the broth. I let it all cook in there together on medium heat to get the flavors all mixed together. While they were off having a party, I made croutons for my soup.

(That's some straight up fancy Panera magic in here.)

I used a Marble Rye bread, and I melted another pat of butter in the same skillet. Then I let the cut up bread hang out in there until it became crispy.

Man. I love bread.

After the pot of veggies and broth were done living la vida loca, I puree'd them like a champ in my blender. You could use a food processor too if you want. (I've had no luck finding a good food processor that works and doesn't sound like a hoard of zombies coming for me.)

Those little celery leaves are for garnish, which now brings it above a fancy Panera level. Add some spices to it if you want to change the flavor. Cinnamon would work, or nutmeg. 

I'm probably going to be making a lot of soups since it's soup weather, and they're easy to make. Plus, it's a convenient thing to bring in a lunch and everyone else thinks you're some sort of culinary genius when really you're just a chucklehead with a blender.