Marie Cookpad

  Sorry to disappoint you if you came here looking for lentil soup today.  I was gifted with a bag of parsnips from someones garden and I need to use them pronto, so today you are getting Spiced Parsnip & Carrot Soup.  I hope you don't mind too much!      Parsnips are a root vegetable which greatly resemble really pale, ghost-like carrots!  They actually belong to the same family as carrots and parsley.  Left in the ground to mature until the first frost, they get really sweet.   They are a delicious vegetable.  At least I think they are!  Even pre-frost!   My mother hated parsnips.  I can remember her cooking them for us once.  She had hated them since she was a child.  She fried them in butter. I thought they were gorgeous. She still did not like them so that was the end of that!  I, however, had fallen in love and it is a love affair which I carry on right up to this day.    Par...

  This  is a beautiful supper dish with lovely fresh flavours and colours.  I love recipes like this.  Its simple, easy and uses things I normally have in my kitchen  . . .   Fresh bell peppers . . . I used golden yellow peppers.  I like to peel the skin from them as I am not overly fond of cooked pepper skins, which can oftimes be somewhat bitter.  They are not that hard to peel.  I have a soft skin vegetable peeler which makes it very easy.    They are really great for peeling things like pepper and tomatoes. I like to pick peppers with straight sides for this dish.  They cut and peel much easier than overly rounded ones.    As well as the peppers there is a large red onion, cut into half moons. The peppers and onions are cooked in a skillet together, until the edges begin to caramelize, at which time you add  garlic and a bit of dry white wine. (I used water with a pinch of sugar as we don't do alcohol)  ...