spring effect

My friend dreams to open a soup kiosk. A trailer with big stainless pots and huge ladles hanging inside and wide, long stand from the outside. The one you would be going to after a rainy day to warm up, or to chill out after a busy week or a busy day at work, or just to soak up a sorrow, or to indulge happiness in a bowl of pure liquid gold.

We would talk for hours about what the menu would be, would it be divided by season, or by days, but definitely by vegetables and fruits in season. What is so great, and what both of us love about soup recipes is the thing that you don’t need a precise measurement of ingredients to have it turn out to be fantastic. The other thing is that there are so many varieties, you can literally experiment each day and it seems like there is no end to it. And garnishes, ah that’s the other specter of varieties. So, this trailer would be soup kiosk for soup lovers in a way like candy shop works for candy lovers.

I eat soups in all seasons, well I also drink tea in all seasons too. I remember last year I was drinking tea every morning while I was on my summer holiday and after few days waiter asked me how you can drink this hot tea when it’s so hot outside. There is even some scientific approach to all this, why one should drink warm drinks while it’s warm outside and the opposite, why one should drink cold beverages when it’s cold outside, but I am not going into that now, I just simply think that I chronically miss ‘warmth’ and this is why I always, but always enjoy hot beverages no matter what’s the weather like.

When the day is warm, and when the Sun is giving us all that energy I feel like I am doubling it with all this additional warmers. Also, this is probably a habit I developed over the past years, and plus I am a soup and tea lover and when you love something you just don’t care about anything else. But this is just me.

Soups are rather cheap and easy to make, but so comforting and pleasant and joyful and sometimes so rich in flavor. You don’t need some particular skills to make good soup.

Although it’s a blooming season by calendar, but have to say I don’t feel so ‘blooming’ myself, therefore it is the perfect time to make soup, eat it and hopefully get into the ‘blooming’ mood!

cauliflower and parsnip soup with a blooming effect

cauliflower (medium), cut into small florets

parsnip (big one), cut into bigger cubes

leek (big one, only white part), cut into large rings

spring garlic (3-4, only white parts), cut into large rings

olive oil (2 tbsp)

milk (350ml)

vegetable stock (300ml)

salt

In a large pot heat the olive oil and add the leeks, garlic, parsnip and cauliflower and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently on a medium heat. Add the milk and stock, season with salt and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft and easily pierced with a paring knife, about 15 minutes.

Let the soup cool a bit and whiz in a blender until smooth (or purée using a hand mixer). Taste, and season with additional salt if needed. If the soup is too thick, it can be thinned with water or stock.

I garnished the soup with color oils and fried parsley. I used carrot, tomato and beetroot oil.

Beetroot oil: Juice one red, cooked beetroot and mix with olive oil (same goes for carrot and tomato, except you don’t need to cook tomato before mixing it with oil).

But leaving it white as it is and adding a bit of yogurt is good as well!