Dot’s Roasted Parsnip Soup

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Chop your parsnips into chunks, throw them in a bowl, and coat in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet lined with foil and roast them for 20-30 minutes, until they’re all quite soft. Give them a stir halfway through so they brown somewhat evenly.

While they’re roasting, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Chop your leeks from the bottom up, into disks, stopping when you hit the really dark green flat stuff at the top. Discard the darkest parts, and put the disks into a colander. Rinse well while using your hands to separate them.

Once the oil is hot, add leeks to the pan and saute for 5-10 minutes. You want them to brown and soften up, then you can remove them from the heat and set them aside.

When the parsnips are done roasting, put them in a medium sized saucepan and add 2-3 cups of chicken broth. Use a stick blender to puree the parsnips, adding more chicken broth as you go. When most of the pieces have broken down, add the leeks. Puree the whole thing, adding more broth when necessary. I used the whole 4 cups and it was the perfect consistency. You may not need as much, it depends on the size of the parsnips you started with.

Lastly, place the saucepan on the stove, and heat over medium-high heat until it’s steaming hot. (If you boil it, that’s just fine, it will do no harm.)

Serve with crusty bread, or as a side dish. As a side dish this makes 8 servings, each of which is about 75 calories. For an appetizer, this would make 4 servings, around 150 calories each.