I approached this recipe with curiousity and a little bit of concern after the homemade peach brandy nearly overpowered the butternut squash soup. I was also a little concerned about the time requirements, as some of these recipes are best accomplished with advance planning. The only real advance planning here was to get the ingredients and to chop everything up as directed to toss in the pot.
I also failed to stick to proportion requirements, fortunately soups are forgiving. I chopped all my parsnips (a mildly sweet, carrot like vegetable) first, to learn I didn't need all of it. I grabbed a couple stalks of celery when one would probably have yielded what I needed, but I did not throw in the entire bag of celery, tempting though it was. I'm not trying to make celery soup. I'll save that endeavor for either James, or after this cookbook...unless it does come up. I put in one large onion, also chopped, it looked close to what I needed. All of these went into the pot with some butter, twice the required recipe amount as I had lots of veggies going into the pot. I sauteed until tender, and lightly caramelized. In goes the minced garlic and thyme I pulled off the plant as I finished chopping turnips, I began to smell the garlic and thyme, very fragrant.
I tossed in the turnips, which were the only vegetable close to the correct ratio, I think...and I added extra chicken and vegetable stock or broth, whichever they put into those cute cartons I can close up and save the rest for later. I added the salt and pepper by pours, cranks, and dashes.
I brought it to a boil, like Emeril told me to, even if it did require a little coaxing. I left it to boil for a moment or two, but not more than five. I wasn't trying to kill the flavor here, it just breaks up some of the starch of the turnip.
I did taste some of the turnip raw, and found it to be similar to a potato, but milder, not quite sweeter, but possibly. I wouldn't eat this vegetable raw much, but it made for a great comfort food. Once I turned down the heat and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes until the turnips were tender, I pulled out the thyme and added the heavy cream. Then I scooped it into a blender and made the soup smooth. Next time, I won't puree the soup as long, I like it a bit chunkier than it came out. It felt like I was eating a light version of a chowder when I tasted it.
I tasted the soup with and without the sour cream and found it an excellent addition to the soup. Sour cream will be added to each bowl I enjoy from here on out. I will say, even with the extra vegetables, this soup didn't seem to make enough to feed an army, which is mostly a relief, unless you are trying to feed an army. I'm sure it could be adjusted well enough, and they'd eat it.
Its cold and blustery outside and snowing on and off today. The snow isn't sticking much yet, but I'm already dreading shoveling my drive at 7AM in pajamas, knowing I'll have to do it when I come home again after the plows go through. So, its cold and snowy and windy and after an hour I have a warm soft soup. This creamy turnip "chowder" is a great comfort food for one of those days when your tired and not feeling great and just want a quick bowl of comfort without opening a can. I will definitely make this "chowder" again.
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