Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Vegetables, and how to hide swede and parsnip in a soup




No much in the veggie garden right now, and I am a bit tired of bok choy and broccolini, the only things left. I am looking at my fennel fattening up, tomorrow I may pick the first ones. The rest is still too small.

The other day I pulled up the last bean plants and so this was my last bean harvest! No much eh! I needed colours, and even if out of season I got some capsicums. I mixed them with onions, carrots, celery and my few beans, and made a big stew. I miss summer already.


I did get a few potatoes though, some tiny, while cleaning the beds for the next season. The soil is looking good and full of worms, I covered it with more newspaper to give the little creatures shelter, and work happily in the darkness to make my garden more fertile.




The kids love the tiny potatoes, and some of the big ones I used for a potage soup. In an attempt to be more seasonal I went for winter veggies: more onions, carrots and celery again, coriander, and then some not so popular vegetables: swede and parsnip. Once again my husband reacted like for the brussels sprouts: it seems like swede and parsnip have a bad reputation too! Not my favourite veggies either, I would not bother growing them since I am happy to have them just once a year.




After chopping all the veggies I felt that they didn't look bad: at least there was colour there! But not for long. After cooking everything with some vegetable stock, and blending it into a creamy soup, I had a strange yellow colour.




But the soup was good (I think that the coriander really works here)! The kids tried to guess: pumpkin? No. Kumara? No. I realized that they didn't remember what swedes and parsnips were! I think that the last time we had them (in a soup, as always) it was about 2 years ago!! And my husband? He liked the soup and said that it did not particularly taste of swede or parsnip anyway, and this, apparently, was a good thing :-).

 Do you eat swedes and parsnip?




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©


30 comments:

  1. questi colori sono fantastici, queste verdure hanno un che di buono, di naturale, e questa crema è sicuramente buona, la traduzione pessima, ma mi sono arrangiata...
    belle le castelle hai visto? e poi è un dolce molto buono, simile al nostro pan di spagna...un abbraccio

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  2. Infatti Tam, simile ma in un certo senso sembra piu' sofisticato per via del nome :-)!

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  3. I don't like swede or parsnip, but I would eat your soup!

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  4. I LOOOOOVE parsnips - roasted is best, but I've got a great soup recipe and they're always good in a stew. I think the strong flavour puts people off - but maybe the trick is to enhance it!

    Love the colours in your photos too!!

    Have a great day!!

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  5. Ohh, I miss summer too :( Have made soup a lot recently, but my partner doesn't like soups no matter how much I rave about them. He does, however, like swede! Weird. Sounds like a swede soup might work well, especially with parsnip! Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  6. Che buone le zuppe!!!!
    Mi piacciono tanto e non le faccio quasi mai per pigrizia...Ma si può?!? ^___*

    A presto!
    Elisa

    PS: Ne approfitto per ricordarti la mia raccolta "I Love Coffee"! C'è tempo fino al 15 giugno e si può partecipare anche con ricette già pubblicate! Ti aspetto, eh! ^___*

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  7. You know, I have never actually cooked with them which is rather shameful. I've just assumed that no-one will like them. Now that it's winter maybe I should give them a go.

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  8. I eat neither...not because I wouldn't, but rather because you don't find them easily in the vegetable shops here.

    That mix of peppers and other veggies in the photo above is so vibrant!

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  9. KIl minestrone è un ottimo camuffatore!Che belle queste verdure strane!baciotti

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  10. @ Elisa, vengo a vedere ma non prometto nulla, sono un po' incasinata sti giorni, caffe' ne bevo a scodelle!

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  11. quante belle verdure!!! colorate e allegre e anche questa zuppa in versione crema! sana colorate e deliziosa!!!! è l'unico modo in cui riesco a far mangiare la verdura alla mia bestiaccia Lucia! baci

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  12. bella questa zuppa, ha un bellissimo colore.

    ti confesserò pure di non aver mai mangiato né la rutabaga né la pastinaca, e di aver dovuto vedere sul vocabolario :-)

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  13. Le swedes (google ha tradotto in "svedese"...) mi piacciono, le ho mangiate spesso, mentre la pastinaca non l'ho mai assaggiata! Quelle verdure che hai fotografato sembrano un quadro, bellissime! E sono certa che anche la zuppa era speciale! Ciao!

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  14. I don't know either parsnip or swedes but I like your soup!!
    Titti
    PS (I like the star's rain , or gold's rain... from the pointer. I did you do?)

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  15. How did you do....?? Sorry..
    Titti

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  16. That is true, if you are making soup, you can practically hide anything in it :)

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  17. wow the pic are so beautiful!! and the soup yum!

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  18. I love the photos! Incredible colorful vegetables! Very good soup!

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  19. wonderful pics as always..soup sure looks yummy :)

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  20. I forgot to add that swede and parsnip make the soup very creamy, i.e. give it a good texture. :-). And yes, hiding is good.

    Gaia e Ornella" rutabaga e pastinaca... i nomi in italiano non li sapevo neppure, mai mangiate in Italia!

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  21. la rutabaga non la conosco e il nome l'ho capito leggendo i commenti...ma per la pastinaca invece ho una particolare simpatia......peccato che fa parte, come il rabarbaro di quelle cose che per trovarle ci vuole una botta di..... diciamo fortuna ^______^ con il tempo che fa in questi giorni la tua zuppa non ci starebbe niente male nemmeno qui !!! ciauzzzzzz

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  22. this looks healthy colourful
    thank you for following me :) glad to be following you
    http://createwithmom.blogspot.com
    http://torviewtoronto.blogspot.com

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  23. Hi Alessandra, Thanks for stopping by my blog- Yours looks wonderful! So it looks like we're neighbors :)lovely multi-colored veggies...soup looks delicious too.

    Have a great day,

    Aldy.

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  24. Aldy, :-), where do you live?

    Ciao
    A.

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  25. What gorgeous colors in this recipe, Alessandra. We certainly "eat" with our eyes first, and your photos are making me hungry. I do like turnips and parsnips, especially in soups, or mashed together. Yum!

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  26. rich and flavorful! Gorgeous gorgeous color! I want a bowl now... Ooooohh

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  27. Your veggies are so pretty! Happy healthy eating my sweet friend. xoxo

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  28. Roast parsnip is great.. you can roast swede too!

    Parsnip and pear soup anyone ?

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  29. Parsnip and pear??? Really? How do you make it Shirley?

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