Spiced Parsnip Soup (to cure what ails ya)

The thing about being born in June is that from time to time you wind up sick on your birthday.

This is one of those years. I started to get a tickly throat on Monday night, which mutated overnight into a full blown cold just in time for my birthday. Thinking that everyone at work would think I was pulling a sickie to get the day off, I battled my way through a work day. A good thing too, as the girls at work threw me a surprise birthday lunch. 

But when I surfaced this morning as Matt was preparing for an early morning flight to Auckland for work, I realised there was no way I was going to make it in to work myslef. So I went back to bed and didn't surface until lunchtime.

Without Matt to look after me, I knocked together this thick, spicy, meal-in-a-bowl soup, which didn't require me to stand for long periods at a time. Gently spiced with ginger, garlic (a few extra cloves for good luck), and garam masala, and with coriander piled on top to give a fresh kick, this soup was exactly what I needed in my belly.

A word of warning - if your eyes are already aching from a head cold (as mine were), whatever you do, don't get the fumes of chopped onion in them (like I did). It will make your head feel like it's about to explode.

My uncle must be able to tell the future or something. He sent me a giant bottle of hand made ginger syrup for my birthday, which arrived just in time to abate my winter misery. 

This isn't your usual lemon honey ginger syrup - it's got a real, fresh ginger punch (you know, like you get in really good ginger beer), which leaves your throat ever so slightly tingly and makes you feel like it's actually doing something. And you can see the quality in the product; it's got a layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so you know it's packed full of real ingredients. 

I have been living off a hot mug of this with a good squeeze of lemon today. But once I'm better, this syrup will happily form the base of many a marinade, drizzled over goats cheese and served with crackers, or mixed into a sauce to soak a pound cake in.

Spiced Parsnip Soup (serves 6)

A knob of butter and a glug of olive oil

2 small or 1 large onion, roughly diced

6 cloves garlic (you can reduce this if you want), crushed slightly with the side of a knife

A thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced roughly

4 large parsnips, roughly diced

1T garam masala

1lt vege or chicken stock

400ml milk (low fat is fine)

Salt and pepper to taste

Coriander to serve

Start by putting a soup pot on a medium-low heat, and melting the butter with a glug of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pot, and cook slowly for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the parsnips and garam masala, stir to coat all the parsnip in oil and garam masala, and let this cook out for 2 more minutes. Be careful not to burn the spice, turning down the heat as necessary.

Add the stock and the milk, bring to the boil, and turn down the heat to a low simmer. Let this cook with a lid on for half an hour, or until the parsnip is soft. If the milk causes a weird foam on the top, don't worry - this will be blended back through the soup and you won't even notice, I promise.

Once the parsnip is soft, blend with a stick/immersion blender until completely smooth.

Spoon into bowls and serve with hot buttered toast, and a pile of coriander.