WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Classic creamy soups like potato-leek or carrot ginger tend to focus on a single vegetable or two, letting one root shine. For this recipe, we wanted a mélange of mellow, sweet, earthy root vegetables, while still highlighting one as a standout flavor. So we started with the usual suspects—potatoes, carrots, and celery—but then added parsnips for a gentle, haunting sweetness. For browning the vegetables, tasters definitely preferred the nutty flavor of butter, rather than oil. And, of course, cream is a must in a creamy soup, but too much dairy muted and obscured the vegetable flavors. We settled on ½ cup of heavy cream, supplemented with leeks to add sweet silkiness. A bay leaf added just the right herbal note. This pureed soup is silky smooth, sweetly earthy, and intensely flavorful.
SERVES: 4 to 6
TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 ounces parsnips, peeled and chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 leek, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced thin, and washed thoroughly
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
- Salt and pepper
- 12 ounces russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 4¼ cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add parsnips, carrots, leek, celery, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt and cook until browned, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Stir in potatoes and cook, stirring constantly, until starch begins to release and vegetables begin to stick together, about 2 minutes. Add broth and bay leaf and bring to boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Discard bay leaf. Working in batches, process soup in blender until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Return soup to clean pot and stir in cream.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve. (Soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
