Carrot and Parsnip Soup: Perfect way to welcome Fall | Fall Recipe - Her Mise En Place (2024)

FAQs

What happens to the Flavour of vegetables such as parsnips and carrots when cooked? ›

While raw vegetables can often taste bitter, roasting them means that the dry heat of the oven helps caramelise the natural sugars within, resulting in the incredible sweet flavour of roasted carrots and parsnips.

Introduction: Mirepoix (stock/soup Base)

The stock is the very basic foundation of any soup or stew. Stock is a very basic recipe that relies on good base ingredients like celery, onion, carrot and meat if you are making a meat-based soup.

Like most root vegetables, parsnips are filled with a rich history rooted in peasant food. They are more expensive to grow, harvest (the tops are cut by hand) and pack, which is why the parsnip is a bit more expensive than its orange twin, the carrot.

Both parsnips and carrots come from the same family, but where they differ most is their flavor. Parsnips have a sweeter, licorice-like taste with a hint of spice to them, as opposed to the carrot's sweetness that is more reminiscent of other types of winter squash.

I recommend peeling parsnips before adding them to recipes like this parsnip soup. If you don't peel them, you'll likely be adding a bitter taste to the soup. Why is my parsnip soup bitter? If you leave the peels on the parsnip, it can cause your soup to taste bitter.

Add flour or cornflour

Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.

Once this does happen, you can tone down the sweetness by adding spices like cumin, nutmeg or lemon juice. Deviate from the recipe to reduce sweetness. Instead of adding 4 parsnip to the recipe, reduce the number of parsnip by half.

To freeze: Cooked or uncooked parsnips can be frozen. You can blanch in boiling water for a few minutes and cool in ice water or roast in the oven before freezing. To defrost: When you take food or drink out of the freezer, it's important to defrost it safely. Don't defrost at room temperature.

Do parsnips have less carbs than potatoes? ›

Parsnips have received favor as a substitution for potatoes, which is higher in sugar and carbohydrates.

Parsnips provide many nutrients as well as a good amount of fibre, vitamins and minerals. A serving of 1/2 cup of sliced parsnips will give you 3g of fibre and only 55 calories. It makes it a popular vegetable to use in lieu of potatoes or carrots.

Mirepoix is an aromatic blend of ingredients made to bring flavors to foods like stews, soups, stocks, and broth. This trinity food is made by slowly cooking carrot, onion, and celery to “sweat” out the flavor and create a delicious base for other recipes to be built upon.

Chances are it's mirepoix. The culinary term refers to the combination of diced onion, carrots, and celery, gently cooked in fat. Mirepoix is a foundation for many classic dishes, including sauces, soups, braised meat dishes, and other recipes.

Flavor and Nutrient Content

The longer certain vegetables are cooked, the more flavor is lost. This can happen either because flavor compounds dissolve into the cooking liquid or evaporate. Some nutrients (like vitamin C) may also be lost as they leach out into the cooking water.

Your body has an easier time absorbing the carotenoids in carrots if you eat them cooked rather than raw. Cooking breaks down the vegetable's cell walls, making its nutrients more available. Of course, how you cook them matters—boiling vegetables can leach out nutrients, so it's better to steam, sauté, or roast.

Pectin breaks down with heat so when vegetables are cooked, the pectin starts to break down and that releases the bond between the cells. That's what causes vegetables to soften. Once that happens vitamins and minerals begin to migrate out of the cells and can be lost in the cooking water.

“The way you prepare vegetables can alter their nutritional quality,” DeWolf says. “How they are altered depends on the vitamin or mineral. While some vitamins can be degraded, some can actually be improved by heating them.” Water-soluble vitamins, such as B and C, are the most sensitive to cooking methods.