cauliflower soup with roasted parsnips & chives
June 26, 2015 § 66 Comments
We sat down to an autumn dinner in the spring! I love a delicious soup any time of the year and having a head of cauliflower and three large parsnips in the refrigerator for the past two weeks was all the influence needed to put this soup together. And of course for my friends living in the Southern Hemisphere, timing for this soup may be just right.
While the parsnips were roasting in a hot oven with melted butter and a little brown sugar, the cauliflower was simmering on the stove in vegetable stock. Rather than roast the cauliflower I prefer to simmer the cauli-florets in broth with finely diced shallots. The pungent cruciferous flavor mellows in the broth and the shallots add lovely flavor.
After the cauliflower is tender, roughly blend into a delicious soup and top with caramelized parsnips and chives.
I n g r e d i e n t s
- 1 cauliflower, broken into florets
- 2 large shallots, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- sea salt & pepper
- 2 large parsnips, peeled and cut into rounds
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
- fresh chives for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large dutch oven heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until aromatic. Add the cauliflower and push it around the pot to coat with oil/shallots. Add the stock and turn up the heat to high. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Continue a slow boil until cauliflower is tender.
In the meantime, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Add the parsnips and butter/sugar mix into a bowl and toss to coat well. Place onto a roasting pan, cover with foil and roast in the oven for 2o minutes. Remove foil, stir and place back in the oven for 20 minutes until brown and caramelized.
When cauliflower is tender and ready, whizz with a hand blender until desired consistency is met. Season with salt and pepper and serve with caramelized parsnips and snippets of fresh chives on top.
COTTAGE GROVE HOUSE 
Wow!! Such a tasty and delicious recipe!!! I love the pictures!!!
:) Hi Serena! Thank you so much, that’s quite a compliment coming from you because I am so impressed by your gorgeous photography!
Seana, you are a very kind and talented friend! Thank you so so much! Have a wonderful weekend! XX
I say yes to this! Sounds wonderful. And what a beautiful plating picture! Perfect! :)
Thank you, such a kind comment! I don’t spend much time fussing with plating, so I really appreciate your compliment. :)
A great recipe to take cauliflower soup to a new flavorful level.
Yes Jovina, it really was a nice (although a bit heavy) soup recipe. In the colder months I really don’t notice how filling parsnip can be. Heavy, but really tasty!
Love how you treated all the components of this dish, I’ve never roasted turnips in that way with butter and brown sugar, I bet that was delicious with the cauliflower.
Hi Cheri. Hope you are enjoying your summer weather! We’ve finally hit some pretty hot temps here in Seattle. 90° today! That’s hot for us! Can’t imagine turning on the oven and doing any roasting today..that’s for sure. :)
Love how your roasted the oarsnips first. MMM good!
Thanks Johanne! :) Mmmm good!
Two of my fave vegetables in one bowl. That looks so damn tasty my friend. I want some now 👍
Mine too! LOVE cauliflower and LOVE parsnips. Went together well here in this soup. Love your thumbs up emoji! :)
This sounds wonderful and that bowl is amazing! Love the idea of adding chives…they are one of my favorite toppings.
Love chives too! Just yesterday I dug up an enormous chive cluster. It was out of control and I needed the space in the garden. I still have tons of it back there. It’s amazing how that stuff spreads. I have a soft spot for wooden bowls. There’s too many of them in my cupboard!! And I don’t consider that a problem… :)
Wooden bowls are my weakness too :)
Haven’t used shallots in ages. Where I used to buy them stopped selling them. Really must start making more of an effort with my savoury food! And with soups. Okay, I’m making lettuce, black bean and potato soup tomorrow. But that’s only to use up the lettuce. Anyway, loving the way you’ve placed your sliced parsnips – bet that took a while. :) I can really get into doing stuff like that.
Ha! I’m like that too with “arranging” things…especially small things like this. Intrigued about your lettuce, black bean and potato soup! Especially the lettuce part. Are you going to cook the lettuce? I love your soups! I have had more than a few of your soup recipes and the flavors are always so unique and original. :)
Yes, the lettuce is cooked. Not dissimilar to Peas à la français. The soup itself was okay. Lettuce is better with peas/broad beans and the like. And thank you re unique and original! :)
Isn’t that gorgeous! Love cauliflower but have never tried it in soup form. I guess time to try it this way now. Very creative idea to serve it with oven roasted parsnips..
I made some soup today as well! 😊
You made soup today too?! You and I seem to always be on the same wavelength! It’s hot today though…90°F, which is a scorcher here in Seattle. They even put out an excessive heat warning! :) My bamboo is loving it!
We had a rainy day with temperatures in 70s. A good bowl of mushroom soup!
I thought the same about us being on the same wave length most of the time ❤️❤️
Summer Shmummer! Eat what you want when you want, right?:
Ha! I agree. Why not? Well, at some point i’ll quit buying cauliflower. As you know I have a complete obsession with it. I can’t quit buying it! :)
Good use of ingredients. The parsnips add a lovely depth of flavor. Would you consider maybe honey instead of the brown sugar for getting the balance back in? What about o few drops of acid?
I think honey would work for sure. Not sure about acid though…as in, say vinegar? May be wonderful!
Or a citrus. Not quite sure what I really meant. Thinking outlaid more than anything. :D
Your soup sounds lovely- and I absolutely LOVE your wood bowl and presentation.
Thank you Josette! I was very pleased when I found that bowl! I have a mild obsession with unusually shaped wooden bowls and platters and this one was a find. :)
I’m jealous! ;)
Seana, that soup is fantastic, I just love cauliflower and really love it in soup. LOVE the garnish, parsnips are so good and I think it’s a perfect match with the cauliflower.
I wondered what to do with both of these “white” vegetables and I couldn’t think of any other way to match them other than soup. Rather than simmer the parsnips in with the cauli I imagined caramelizing them and it worked really well! Ok, now our temps are too high for a soup like this… Thank you Suzanne!
My kind of soup – of course because I love parsnips….
Thanks Laura! Hope you are doing well! :)
We love soup & eat it year round; I make 1-2 pots of soup each week. I love the way you roasted the parsnips…they sound delicious! Can’t wait to try this soup!
Same here! We eat soup year round too and lately it’s been broth soups. I think it makes a perfect dinner; just a nice big bowl of soup and I’m satisfied. :)
This looks wonderful! Makes me want to pull up a chair :)
:) Thank you. Makes me happy you dropped in and left me a nice comment today!
Thank you! Always a pleasure :)
oh yum~ just returned from shopping and forgot to buy a cauli, otherwise I would be making this soup right now!
I think I’m finally going to stop buying cauli (only for a little while though). I must have gone through a dozen or so in the past several weeks! I’d say it has made it to the top of the vegetable “must have” list. :)
Love that you’re posting recipes for our side of the world dear Seana! So very sweet of you. ;) I’m very much in the mood for soups these days, so will be making this sometime soon for sure. Love how there is a roasted element mixed with the cauliflower that has been simmered away with the broth. Oh and how beautiful are those little chive flowers – gorgeous colour!
Thank you so much Margot. Hope you are enjoying your season. I’m not much of a summer or hot weather person but it’s been very nice to have some heat these past few days. The garden certainly loves it and I think we’ll have a great tomato harvest this year. :)
A soup post is excellent timing Seana – we’re freezing our proverbials off over here! Love the spray of purple blooms next to your soup. Parsnips with melted butter and brown sugar sound heavenly. Love a soup with lots of texture!
Saskia! It’s so nice to hear from you! I’ve really missed your posts and before I even replied to your comment I just had to head over to your blog. What a fabulous trip. I love the way you travel and here we are in America trying to get out of the country for vacations when there are wonderful places like the southwest to explore. Well, although I’d certainly love to visit Australia. Can’t wait to read more of your Route 66 experiences. :)
Thanks so much for the lovely comment Seana :)
So true – there is a lot of Australia we should be exploring too. The grass is always greener though, and USA grass is the best, or should I say cacti and tumbleweeds ;) I can’t tell you how excited we were to see our first giant tumbleweed rolling across the road near Monument Valley, followed by a real live road runner!! We grew up on American culture so for us that was the holy grail, like we were in a real life Lucky Luke episode :)
Simply damn delicious n comforting soup!!!
Dedy@Dentist Chef
Thank you Dedy! :)
Great post and a fabulous soup!!!
Thank you so much Mimi! :)
Such a great combination of flavours, especially that roasted parsnip. And love the charming photograph with the chives. We haven’t warmed up yet in Ontario Seana – it’s still soup weather here although I’m sure the heat will hit us soon.
I imagine it is wonderful in Ontario, a city I would love to visit someday! We finally warmed up to the 80’s (F). It’s been very nice for a change. The tomato plants are thriving out back! Usually we don’t start seeing tomatoes until late July and right now our plants are full of little green babies. :)
I’m thinking some leftover shredded chicken added in would be a yummy variation!
I like the way you think. Shredded chicken would be fabulous in this soup! Thank you for the idea! :)
I made your delicious soup & used cauliflower from a friend @ our allotment! This was a superb soup! So full of flavor too! x
Thank you Sophie. Glad to hear you enjoyed the soup. ;)
:) Have a nice Thursday! :)
This sounds lovely – I do love a creamy cauliflower soup and what a great way to use parsnips – I honestly never do anything except roast them.
Thank you Little Vegan Bear. :) Love your blog name… now that you mention it I don’t think I have ever cooked parsnips any other way. Only roasting. They’re so unique! Love them.
This soup would be a medicine during the cold weather.
It’s true. Can you believe I made it in the spring? It was delicious and well, the temperature weren’t too warm so a nice hearty bowl of vegetable soup was perfect.
Ah this will be perfect for the cauliflower i’ve got in the fridge! Perfect weather for a good soup here!
I would enjoy a bowl of your soup no matter the season.
Come on, we’re dying for some summer recipes! :)
Agree! I need to get back to it!
This soup looks lovely. Would be great to warm us up on the cold days we have been having recently.