Soup, asparagus. Perfect for earth hour!

Saturday felt a bit off for me.   It was a fine day, great actually.  I got my hair done and Adam (who I used to refer to as 'A' but let's face it, most of who read this know me and those who don't would figure out pretty quickly who 'A' was) made wicked progress in the bathroom.


I had no direction on dinner.  I knew soup needed to be in the equation.  I remembered I had some parsnips sitting there.  Then it came to me - brilliant.   Out comes the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution and into my stomach goes...




Before the puree stage, all the veg and broth



PARSNIP GINGER SOUP - adapted from Jamie Oliver's food revolution.  The original recipe is exactly double (except the asterisks*)

1 large carrot
1 large celery stock
1 lb parsnips
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves *
1 pinky sized peice fresh root ginger
900 ML chicken broth
A few sprigs fresh parsley
Sea salt and fresh grd pepper
A squeeze (tablespoon or less) of honey

Put your broth in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, turn down and simmer.

Meanwhile....



Peel and cut up all of your vegetables into fair chunks.  Peel and slice garlic*(I put in an extra clove).  Peel and slice ginger.  Put a dutch oven or saucepan on medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add your veg, garlic, and ginger and stir around to coat.  With the lid askew stir occasionally until the vegetables are smelling good and almost cooked (original recipe calls for 10 min, I say more like 15).  Add your hot broth, bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes until everything is cooked.  Use an immersion blender (easier) or take the soup out in batches in your stand blender, and puree the soup.   Add a nice squeeze of honey*(this isn't in the orig recipe, I just like it sweeeet!) and a bit of fresh ground salt and pepper to taste.  Serve garnished with a few leaves of fresh parsley*(original recipe calls for cilantro).  (see finished product in photo below)

Along with the soup I also had some baked salmon, crusty garlic bread, and dressed asparagus.

Dressed asparagus for 2



The whole dinner, look how lovely!



1/2 lb fresh asparagus tips

1t dijon mustard

2t balsamic vinegar

1T olive oil

pinch of salt and pepper

a couple sprigs of parsley, leaves removed and chopped fine

Place all ingredients besides asparagus into a small bowl and whisk.

Steam/blanch your asparagus

Add dressing to asparagus.  YUM.

(in the original version you use red wine vinegar and half of the mustard - pretty much double the whole thing, including asparagus, find a link here http://food.chatelaine.com/Recipes/View/Jamie_Oliver_s_Dressed_Asparagus)

We finished eating and cleanup right in time to turn off the lights for earth hour!
Bon appetit!

- Sarah