I’m making Carrot & Parsnip Soup to use up some veggies left over from Christmas, using the time-honoured method of “making it up as I go along.”

I’ve currently got diced carrots and parsnips roasting in the oven along with three garlic cloves, and am caramelising an onion. I’m then going to chuck the lot into stock with a diced potato, and simmer until soup. Probably then puree half of it and mix it back in, maybe with a dollop of cream if there’s any left (or milk if not).

Question is, what herbs and spices to use? Carrots would normally be coriander, but when I’ve made spicy parsnip soup before I’ve used cumin. The Internet suggests “marjoram, thyme and parsley” as an option.

What would STW do? What would work well with this lot? (First person to wittily suggest steak gets a ban. 🙂 )

Wife uses “celery salt” makes the world of diff in most soups.

I think that’s one of the few things I don’t have. Will check. (I’d have wanged celery in if I had any.)

Chestnuts ?

Pine Nuts ?

Fresh Basil ?

Smidge of Chilli ?

Splash of Worcester Sauce ?

Black or White Onion seeds ?

Just some mixed herbs would help. If you don’t have celery salt, then sweating off some finely diced celery, then adding to the onion would be nice. A pinch of dried flaked chillis will liven it up. Cumin will also go well with the carrots.

Paprika.

Oh and some form of dead animal but you’ll not want that.

yeah, what DD said. cumin would work fine with both of those roots.

Oh and some form of dead animal but you’ll not want that.

It would be bad form to ban a moderator, right?

sweating off some finely diced celery

Still don’t have any.

A pinch of dried flaked chillis will liven it up. Cumin will also go well with the carrots.

Now you’re talking.

Pine Nuts ?

Ooh. That’s an idea, I could toast them and slam them in at the end. Good shout, sir.

(I’d have wanged celery in if I had any.)

D’oh. 😳

Cumin. Ginger might work too.

I was thinking a bit of ground ginger too but if we keep going we’ll start getting towards the more is less end of ingredients adding. 🙂

I have no problem with that. (-:

Don’t go mad. Your’e only making soup!
Is it now called ‘Carrot, parsnip, garlic, roast onion & anything else that the STW hivemind suggests soup’

Less, can often be more.

It’s not soup, it’s alchemy.

The roast garlic didn’t work, anyway; just dried out so I’ve tossed it. Will roast it properly next time.

Actually, you might be on to something there. It’s pretty darned nice already.

The Twitterverse suggests cardamom or nutmeg.

What’s wrong with it just being carrot and parsnip? Too much spoiling of flavours these days with extra stuff added to be “clever”.

Boring cook alert. ^^^

Soup in progress.

I think I’m leaning towards something spicy in the cumin / ginger spectrum. It’s quite sweet, so that needs offsetting.

Final answer was 1/4 tsp each of ginger and cumin. And it’s MEGA.

Thanks all.

Do I get a prize?

Sure, there’s a bowlful left.

Real stock from your chosen animal makes a huge difference over stock cubes too.

On the way down or on the way back up?

It is quite the contender for a quick game of “sick or soup”, isn’t it. More so after I took a masher to it. Was nommy though.

It’s the diced carrots…