Parsnip Soup with Sauted Veggies

These past few months that I have not traveled like a mad woman have been GREAT! Not going from time zone to time zone suddenly made sense.

I have adapted myself to many new things … the hardest one is food shopping and baking supplies. I say is hard because when I am in Madrid I don´t have many of the things that used to buy in New York, Paris or Milan. Lucky me I have Geneva.

In Madrid I am learning to find the places where I can shop some of my “favorite” things. In fact, I found a supermarket where I buy a good amount of the products that I used to shop at Whole Foods in New York or that I buy at Coop in Geneva.

Last week I found parsnip, in Spanish “Chirivía”. I was soooo happy! Although parsnip is easy to find abroad and there are many recipes to cook it, its not easy to find it in Madrid.

I prepared a soup. Very good idea after the Halloween candy galore. I also prepared some carrots, mushrooms and almonds that worked perfectly with the parsnip aniseed flavor.

I hope you like it!!

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 small shallots, chopped

250 gr parsnips (about 2 medium), peeled and coarsely chopped

2 medium potato, peeled and coarsely chopped

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

3 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallots, parsnips, and potato, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Season with 2 teaspoons salt. Add water, and simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are tender, 13 to 15 minutes. Puree mixture in a blender with cream until smooth.