Thanksgiving Soup -- Parsnips, walnuts and pears

It's been a while.  I've missed soup and blogging, and soup!  I actually had no intention of making a soup with everything else that I had signed up to bring for Thanksgiving dinner, but at 2 pm the day before Thanksgiving while I was still at the office, I started googling soup recipes.  My search for "Thanksgiving soup recipes" turned up mostly the usual variations of squash soups.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good squash soup, but I was feeling a little experimental.  I came across this recipe from Food & Wine and immediately spotted a winner.  I was intrigued by this recipe and the few but new ingredients.  Hopefully my not-so-experimental family would feel the same way.

The next step was to find the ingredients at 5 pm the day before Thanksgiving.  I had already strategically purchased my other Thanksgiving groceries the night before to avoid the markets Thanksgiving eve, but I just couldn't stop myself.  By this time I was fully committed to tracking down ingredients I'd never seen before.  The recipe called for sunchokes and an Indian spice called garam masala.  I wasn't sure how common of a spice that is, so my first stop was the Indian market near my house.  I found that and tumeric easily and both cost only $3.  I was worried about finding the sunchokes, but that was actually quite easy.  Sprouts had them right by the ginger!  And with that, I was on my home to whip this (and 5 other Thanksgiving side dishes) up!

The prep was pretty easy.  I was worried the sunchokes would be hard to peel, but they were much easier than ginger (much thinner skin).  And since this soup is pureed, I threw everything in the food processor and later used my hand mixer to puree (Thank you Cuisinart. LOVE my kitchen power tools).  To start the soup, I sauteed the parsnips, sunchokes and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes and then added the spices.  I added the water, chicken stock and cream and let simmer for 25 minutes.  If I make this again, I will use a little less liquid to make the soup slightly thicker. Once the soup simmered, I pureed it with my hand mixer and stirred in the lemon juice.  I let it cool and refrigerated it overnight.  The topping was also quite easy.  I sauteed the walnuts in olive oil for a minute or so.  I then added the garlic, lemon juice and walnut oil.  I let it cool a bit and then added the pear and parsley.  I gave a little extra lemon juice so that the pears would not brown overnight.

Parsnips, sunchokes and pears

Spices from the Indian market

Thanksgiving day I took the topping out of the fridge early so that it would come up to room temperature.  I heated the soup up slowly right before dinner was served.  I served the topping on the side and let guests add their own to their liking.  The guests were quite impressed that we had a Thanksgiving starter, but they didn't seem too excited about the choice of recipes.  To be honest, this isn't the prettiest soup to serve.  Mine definitely did not look as nice as the picture on the online recipe.  The braver guests tried it and like it, while a few chose to go straight to the turkey and traditional sides.  But overall, the family enjoyed it.  They said "different, but good."  I really enjoyed it as a new, surprising addition to a predictable Thanksgiving menu.  The pears and walnuts really made the soup.  So much so that I would double the batch of the topping next time.  The spices in the soup were new but interesting.  I was a little bummed that I couldn't locate the taste of the sunchokes over the spices.  I am still not sure what a sunchoke tastes like.  Overall, I think this was a fun experiment and a new flavor to add to Thanksgiving dinner.  It was worth the extra trips to the market, and next year I will just plan ahead to make my Thanksgiving soup.

Happy Holidays!

Soup with pear & walnut garnish

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil / From home

1 3/4 pounds parsnips, peeled and chopped / Sprouts Market / $1.49/lb = $2.65

3/4 pound sunchokes, peeled and chopped / Sprouts Market / $3.99/lb = $2.51

4 garlic cloves, chopped / from home

4 teaspoons garam masala / Indian market / $1.50

2 teaspoons ground cumin / from home

1 teaspoon ground turmeric / Indian market / $1.50

1 teaspoon kosher salt / from home

4 cups water

3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth / from home

1 1/2 cups heavy cream / Sprout market / $1.69

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice / Sprouts market / $0.99

Pepper / from home

Topping

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil / from home

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped / Sprouts market / $9.99/lb = $3.80

1 garlic clove, minced / from home

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon walnut oil / Sprouts market / $6.99

1 small Bosc pear / Sprouts market / $1.49/lb = $1.31

1 tablespoon chopped parsley / from home

1 tablespoon chopped tarragon / from home

Kosher salt / from home

Pepper /from home

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Servings: 10
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $22.84 (soup), = $2.28 per serving