with a little milk, pour them into the soup, and stir until they thicken. Season, and serve with fried or toasted croûtons of bread.
Time.—About 1½ hours. Average Cost, 8d. or 9d. Seasonable in Winter Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.
126.—PARSNIP SOUP. (Fr.—Purée de Panais.)
Ingredients.—2 pints of second stock, 1 pint of milk, 3 or 4 parsnips, 1 onion, 2 strips of celery, 1 oz. of butter, the juice of a lemon, or 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, salt and pepper.
Method.—Slice the vegetables, and fry them in the butter, without browning, for about 15 minutes. Add the stock, and simmer until the parsnips are tender (about 40 minutes), then rub through a wire sieve. Return to the stewpan, add the milk, salt and pepper, and bring to the boil. Mix the flour with a little milk or water, pour it into the soup, stir, and cook for 5 or 6 minutes. Add the lemon-juice and serve with croûtons of fried or toasted bread. The lemon-juice is added to correct the sweetness of the parsnips, and is simply a matter of taste.
Time.—1½ to 1¾ hours. Average Cost, about 7d. without the stock. Seasonable from October to April. Sufficient for 6 persons.
Parsnip (Fr.: Panais).—This is a biennial plant with bright yellow flowers and a root resembling the carrot, which in saccharine and nutritive matter it nearly equals. Like the carrot, it grows wild in Britain, but only the cultivated parsnip is edible. It is generally distributed over most parts of Europe, and in Roman Catholic countries forms with salt fish a Lenten dish. A beverage is made from parsnips in conjunction with hops, and also a wine of agreeable flavour. The parsnip contains in 100 parts:—Water, 82.5; proteids, 1.3; fats, 0.7; carbo-hydrates, 14.5; salts, 1.0.
127.—PEA SOUP. (Fr.—Purée de Pois.)
Ingredients.—2 quarts of stock or water (if water is used, ham or beef bones, either cooked or uncooked will improve the soup), 1 pint of dried split peas, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 1 small turnip, 2 strips of celery, 1 dessertspoonful of dried mint, salt and pepper, 1 oz. of flour.
Method.—Wash the peas and soak them for 12 hours in water. Put them into a stewpan with the bones (if any) and the stock, and bring to the boil. Slice the vegetables and add them to the stock when it boils, and simmer for at least 3 hours. Then rub through a wire sieve, return to the saucepan, add the flour mixed smoothly with a little water, and boil. When the purée is thoroughly incorporated with the soup, season to taste, and serve. The dried mint should be placed in the tureen and the soup poured on to it.
Time.—3½ to 4 hours. Average Cost, 4d. when made with water. Seasonable at any time. Sufficient for 6 persons.
Note.—When making pea soup in large quantities, the process of rubbing the vegetables through the sieve is omitted, and the turnips, carrots, etc., are cut into small pieces and added to the soup about 1 hour before serving.
