After the summer we have had, I wasn’t expecting to start making soup before the end of August, but today has been one of those real weatherly miserable rainy days. A perfect day for chopping up veg, boiling some water and making a delicious cheap easy soup. Today I decided to create a Parsnip & Nutmeg soup, for this you will need:

3 carrots
9 parsnips
2 leeks
3 cloves of garlic
3 potatoes
2.5 litres of cold water
2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes
fresh nutmeg grated
Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

This soup is so delicious and thick, and incredibly easy to make. Chop up all the vegetables roughly the same size, place them in a large saucepan with the whole garlic cloves. Pour over the water, sprinkle over the stock cubes. Place over a high heat until the water boils, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Once cooked, ladle a few ladles of the mix into a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a clean saucepan and repeat until all the vegetables have been blended. If the soup is too thick add some water to thin it down a little. You might want to add some whole milk or cream, but taste first as you may find the soup is creamy enough!!

Start gently reheating the soup, add some salt to taste, and grate over some nutmeg, also to taste. I used quite a lot as I like the depth of flavour this gives to the parsnips.

I served our soup with honey and sunflower bread, a perfect sweet and nutty tasting bread which compliments the parsnips, topped with some grated Parmesan cheese and toasted until the cheese browns.

You may also, when serving, want to add a touch more grated nutmeg, and grate some more cheese directly onto the soup. Delicious!!