(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)
Our current Cook the Books Club selection is the historical novel Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs.1 The book narrates the story of cookbook writer Eliza Acton (1700-1859) and her assistant, Ann Kirby. I had not heard about Eliza Action and I thank Amy, our Club’s host, for selecting the book.
Abbs chose to tell the story alternating between Eliza’s and Ann’s perspective. Through Eliza, Abbs addresses the topics of marriage, motherhood, and the narrow options open to creative women at the time (Eliza is a poet and playwright), while through Ann, she addresses the narrow options open to poor people, particularly women, and also the care of patients with mental health problems.
The book does not include recipes (ricette) but Eliza’s main cookbook “Modern Cookery in All Its Branches” is accessible via the Library of Congress2 (thank you, Amy, for searching for and finding it!) and makes for an interesting browsing. Eliza Acton liked precision in providing instructions. Her lasting contribution to cookery is the listing of ingredients (ingredienti) and their measured, exact quantities (at the end of the recipe, rather than the beginning, as is the current custom). She often adds “Obs.,” observations or comments to the recipe just detailed.
Each chapter of the novel includes a subtitle that references a dish. One of them inspired me, except I got it wrong. The reference was to turnips (rape) with butter, which somehow my brain registered as parsnips with butter. I then thought I hadn’t cooked parsnips in a while and went on my merry way developing a recipe with that root vegetable. Finding locally grown ones at the farmers market acted as an additional prompt. It was only when I was putting in order my notes that I realized my mistake.
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)
Still, the inspiration came from the reading, so below I share my recipe for soup that uses roasted parsnips. They have a distinct, rather strong flavor, so I reached for their “cousins” carrots to balance it, then added an apple to round up the flavor profile. I also went for simplicity: the two root vegetables, apple (mela), red onion (cipolla rossa) and garlic (aglio) are roasted together before becoming soup ingredients. The result is a hearty soup that is particularly welcome when it feels like winter has no intention to leave yet.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Scrub the carrots well and scrape the surface to remove a thin layer of skin. Halve the carrots lengthwise if they are thick. Chop the carrots into 1/2-inch / 1.25-cm pieces. Place the carrots in a mixing bowl.
- Scrub the parsnips well and peel with a vegetable peeler. Halve the parsnips lengthwise if they are thick and core them. Chop the parsnips into 1/2-inch / 1.25-cm pieces. Add the parsnips to the carrots.
- Dice the red onion. Add the onion to the root vegetables.
- Heat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Toss the vegetables with the olive oil then spread on the baking sheet in an even layer.
- Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a corner of the baking sheet.
- Roast the vegetables for 10 minutes.
- Quarter and core the apple. Cut the apple into 1/2-inch / 1.25-cm slices.
- Take the baking sheet out of the oven, remove the garlic cloves and let them cool slightly.
- Stir the vegetables, add the apples slices, stir again, then put the baking sheet back into the oven.
- Squeeze the pulp out of the garlic cloves. Discard the skin.
- Roast the vegetables and apple for another 10 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and stir the vegetables.
- Check the vegetables for doneness: carrots and parsnips pieces should be easily pierced with a blade. If necessary, put the baking sheet back into the oven for a few more minutes.
- Warm up a soup pot on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the grated ginger.
- Stir well and cook for 1 minute on medium-low heat, then add the spices and stir. Keep cooking for another minute until fragrant.
- Transfer the roasted vegetables and apple into the pot. Stir well, then pour onto them the vegetable stock and water.
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil.
- Remove the pot from the heat, season with the salt and stir. Let the soup rest, covered, for 30 minutes, then purée it with an immersion blender. Add more water, if needed, to reach the desired consistency.
- Making the soup at least a few hours before serving will allow it to rest and ripen.
- When ready to eat, heat the soup and ladle it in bowls. Optionally sprinkle some toasted pumpkin seeds on the soup, then serve.
I am glad the Club’s selection prompted me to rediscover a root vegetable that, I believe, should be more popular than it is.
1 The book’s page on the author’s website
2 Modern Cookery in All Its Branches by Miss Eliza Acton (on page 47 of the book [38/418 of the file], there are two recipes for turnip soup and one for carrot soup)
Click on the Play button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post
This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Amy of Amy’s Cooking Adventures. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)
FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.
