WARM VANILLA THRILLER

Parsnip and vanilla soup

Serves 6. This easy, gluten and dairy-free recipe is packed with festive flavours. Ingredients

2tbsp rapeseed oil or water, 4 banana shallots, finely chopped, 1 garlic clove, 8 parsnips, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces, 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, 440ml vegetable stock, 440ml almond milk, 1 vanilla pod, 3tbsp lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. To serve: 60g hazelnuts, 50g dried cranberries, a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary, good olive oil.

Method

1 Heat the oil or water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Sweat the shallots and garlic until translucent. Add seasoning, parsnips and thyme sprigs. Turn the heat down low and cover. Sweat for 15 minutes until the parsnips are almost soft, stirring often.

2 Add stock and milk and stir. Spilt the vanilla pod down the middle, scrape out seeds and add both parts to the pan. Bring to the boil, take off the heat and scoop out the pod.

3 Carefully pour soup into blender and blend until smooth. Pour it back into your saucepan and check the seasoning, adding salt, pepper and the lemon juice to bring out the flavours. 4 Serve sprinkled with hazelnuts, cranberries and herbs, and drizzle of olive oil.

Taken from Vegan Christmas by Gaz Oakley.