Parsnip and White Bean Soup

Another soup recipe from Three Chefs: The Kitchen Men. What can I say, I was in a healthy, veggie soup mood. Michael Bonacini talks about how underrated the parsnip is - and I agree! I'd only ever roasted them before, so I decided to try this soup to see how they were soup-wise.

This was a very simple recipe. First I cooked one diced onion and four cloves of garlic for 5-8 minutes. Then I threw in two large chopped parsnips and two large chopped potatoes. This was going to be a very white soup.

So this recipe calls for butter beans, aka large white lima beans. I didn't think these would be hard to find, but no luck! Since it was getting all pureed anyway, I just threw in a can of white kidney beans. Protein's protein, after all! I added three cups chicken stock (mix of low sodium/no sodium), a bay leaf and 1 Tbsp lemon juice, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

Once the veggies were soft, I stirred in 1/4 cup sour cream (recipe called for creme fraiche, but I'm just not that fancy) to add some richness. Then I blended it in batches, adding two cups milk along with it. It was whipped, frothy goodness. And if there ever was a time for white pepper, it would be for this recipe. I have to admit, however, that my favourite part was the garnish - fresh croutons! Which basically means every time I had a bowl, I got to fry up cubes of bread in butter to add. No complaints about that.