The combination of pulses and root vegetables make delicious soups for the colder months and this thick golden bowlful certainly keeps out the winter chill. The food writer Nigel Slater, who devised the recipe, writes that though this is a winter soup it is also ideal for a cold spring day: a way to use up the last of the winter pulses and a good use for those parsnips hiding in the vegetable rack. It is certainly good for using up parsnips that are slightly past their best or the thin pieces that don’t roast too well!
The recipe comes from Nigel Slater’s column in the Observer Sunday newspaper colour supplement in April 2007 which can also be found online. The other recipe that day was Beetroot Seed Cake, which I also made and have already written about on this site. This soup is tasty and spicy, though for a less hot version use just half a dried chilli pepper, or even less, rather than whole one. Nigel Slater prefers cooking the vegetables in butter rather than oil but I use both. You still get a buttery flavour but the oil helps to prevent the butter from burning. The recipe did not really need too much alteration, although towards the end of the cooking time I put in some fresh coriander, as well as adding some as a garnish to give its distinctive flavour which we love. You can, of course, leave this out if you wish.
'Meanderings through my Cookbook' http://www.hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com
Parsnip & Split Pea Soup
(Serves 4)
2 medium sized onions
a generous knob of butter
1tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 parsnips
2tsp chilli crushed (I used 1 small crushed dried chilli)
1tsp turmeric
a large pinch of ground mace
2tsp ground coriander
125gyellow split peas
1.5 litres water
black pepper
Fresh coriander to stir through and garnish (optional)
1. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Gently heat the butter and olive oil together in a deep pan. (Nigel Slater prefers butter to oil but I use both as you still get the buttery flavour but the oil helps to prevent it from burning.)
2. Add the onions to the pan and start to cook gently. Next peel and crush the garlic and peel and roughly chop the parsnips, adding both to the pan and mixing well. Cook gently on a medium heat.
3. When they are starting to show colour add the crushed chilli, turmeric powder, ground mace and ground coriander.
4. Add the split peas and water. Season with black pepper. (The salt needs to be added later when the peas start to soften: any earlier and it will toughen their skins.) Simmer gently for around 35 minutes until the peas are soft and can be crushed between your fingers.
5. Add salt to taste. Liquidise until the soup is smooth and thick, return to the pan and gently reheat. Rinse the liquidiser with a very small amount of water adding this to the pan as well.
6. Chop the fresh coriander, reserve a little to garnish and stir through the soup as it reheats.
7. Adjust the seasoning and serve with crusty bread.
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Meanderings through my cookbook 
This sounds completely delicious and my sort of soup. As I type, I am eating a bowl full of squash and parsnip soup and am gasping – I added far too much chilli!
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Choclette: Your Squash & Parsnip sounds rather good. It’s often difficult to get the heat right for everyone. We like our soup spicy but my daughter prefers it less so and always adds some yoghurt, which seems to work well.
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This looks so hearty and comforting, Hope. I have a bag of yellow split peas in my cupboard and this recipe is the main contender for them! Thank you for sharing :)
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Catherine: My pleasure! I hope you enjoy the soup – it will certainly keep the cold out!
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Hope, that sounds very hearty and wholesome – a perfect warming soup for cold weather!
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Thank you Celia. I know it is warm weather in the southern hemisphere at the moment but this would be lovely in six months time, or so!
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That is just what I need on this dark, dismal and chilly day! It looks absolutely delicious!
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Thank you Wendy. I agree: the colour is so cheerful too as well as being warming.
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I was looking for something with lentils that was warming, healthy, cheap to make/easy to prepare and not too spicy. This ticks all the boxes and it’s opened my eyes to how easy it is to make delicious soups for lunch (especially as I used to eat a tin of Amy’s Kitchen Lentil Soup every day which was very expensive). I make it in between cooking dinner and the recipe makes enough for my partner and me to have for lunch for 3 days. I’m very fussy when it comes to food and he tries everything but often quickly goes off it. Ive just made this for the second time in two weeks because we’ve both been fancying it and he said he could eat it every day for a week. It isn’t stodgy like some parsnip soups. The first time I made it, I used 1/4 litre less water because it would have been too thin and I had to add some honey to balance the flavour. The second time I made it, I made just a couple of small tweaks and it’s even more delicious than the first time around, in fact it’s perfect for my taste. I used a small shake of Cayenne Pepper because I had no dried chilli, 1 extra parsnip and 60g more yellow split peas. It tastes more full-bodied this time and I was able to use the full quantity of water and ditch the honey. So tasty! Everyone should try this recipe :)