Roasted Parsnip Soup with Gremolata Croutons

Soup Puree

• parsnips
• celery root
• onion
• garlic
• vegetable or chicken stock (We use homemade chicken bone broth)
• olive oil
• bay leaves
• lemon
• nutmeg
• salt + pepper

Gremolata Croutons (Optional)

• stale bread
• parsley
• lemon zest
• garlic
• olive oil
• salt + pepper

How to Prepare Parsnips and Celery Root for Soup

For this recipe, we are roasting the parsnips and celery root to deepen their flavors and coax out the parsnips natural sweetness. Be sure to clean the parsnips and celery root very well. We recommend using a produce brush to scrub the vegetables free of any dirt or grit.

Peeling, Cutting & Roasting the Roots

1. Preheat the oven to 450° Fahrenheit (230° celsius). Prepare a sheet pan with tin foil or parchment paper.
2. To prepare the parsnips for the soup, cut off the widest part (the top) of the taproot. If your parsnips are small, young and fresh, there is no need to peel them before roasting. For larger or older parsnips with thicker skin, we recommend using a vegetable peeler to remove the tough exterior. Sometimes, very large parsnips develop a woody, fibrous core. If this is the case (and it is fairly uncommon), avoid using the core and instead use only the creamy white flesh. Large dice the parsnips into equally sized pieces.
3. Celery root, otherwise known as celeriac, lends a lovely, earthy flavor to this recipe. To prepare the celery root, we peel it in a similar fashion to a melon. First, cut off either end of the celery root. Then, stand the celery root up on one of the cut ends. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice along the curvature of the root to remove a section of the brown skin and as little of the white flesh as possible. Rotate the celery root and repeat the process until the entire vegetable is peeled. Dice the celery root into pieces that are about the same size as your parsnips.
4. Toss the parsnips and celery root in a large bowl with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Lay the vegetables in a single layer on the sheet pan. Roast for about 40 minutes or until the root vegetables have taken a lightly golden color and have begun to caramelize in the oven. Once roasted, the celery root and parsnip can be added to the soup to continue cooking.

How to Puree Soup

To create a smoothly textured Roasted Parsnip Soup, this recipe needs to be pureed. You can puree this soup with an immersion blender, standard kitchen blender or food processor. We like to enjoy this soup fairly thick, but feel free to add additional stock or water until your desired consistency is achieved. For the best results, strain the pureed soup through a fine mesh sieve once or twice before serving.

• Immersion Blender: This is the fastest and easiest way to puree soups. This is our preferred method because the soup can be pureed directly in the cooking pot. Simply submerge the stick blender into the soup and blend on high speed until smooth.
• Blender: Transfer the soup to the blender in small batches (about the amount of half of the blenders capacity). First, remove the small cap from the blender’s lid to allow steam to escape. Then, cover the top of the blender with a kitchen towel to avoid splattering. Puree on high speed until smooth.
• Food Processor: Transfer the parsnip soup (in a few batches) to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Puree on high speed until smooth. This may take a few minutes. Soups pureed in food processors tend to be less-smooth than those pureed in blenders.