Apple and Roasted Parsnip Soup

For my book groups this month we read A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy. (It was good!) In it the main character learns to cook apple and parsnip soup. I had never heard of this--but I like both apples and parsnips so I decided to try it out. What a great flavor combination! I used cardamom as a top note and it worked out nicely. I have put this into the soup rotation at my house.

Apple and Roasted Parsnip Soup
3 medium parsnips
1/2 sweet onion
1 tablespoon grape seed oil
2 teaspoons salt, divided
4 small apples of different varieties-(one Granny Smith and three less tart)
1 tablespoon butter
6 cups hot water
Juice from 1/2 a medium lemon
1 teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons honey
Optional-1 cup half and half
 Peel parsnips and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Chop onion roughly. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss veggies with grape seed oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a roasting pan. Roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring once, until parsnips are fork tender. While veggies are roasting, peel, core and slice apples. Melt butter in a pan, add apples, cook and stir over medium high heat until apples are beginning to caramelize. Add roasted parsnips and onions to pan. Continue to cook and stir for another minute. Add water and lemon juice to pan and cook until apples are very soft, another 5 to 10 minutes. Using a immersion blender, puree soup throughly. (Or do this in batches in a counter top blender.) Add remaining salt and cardamom. Stir in half and half if using. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt, honey or cardamom as desired. Serve warm.

Hints: Roasting the parsnips and onions brings out their sweetness and mellows their flavors. The soup can be vegan but adding half and half enhances the texture and flavor a bit. Avoid boiling after adding the half and half. This soup keeps well refrigerated for 2 or 3 days. I use cardamom infrequently so I store it in my freezer to keep it potent.

This soup uses winter produce beautifully. A great luncheon soup or starter soup for dinner. I even had a bowl for breakfast once with toast and it was pretty good then too.