Soups

There a lot of tales told about making soups, my favourite one is the one about the mean old woman who would not share anything with anybody, until one day a beggar called to her door and asked for some food. When she said she did not have anything to give, he told her, he could make a magic soup for her. He simply needed a big pot and some fresh water and a clean stone. The old woman fetched what he had asked for. When the water was boiling, he said," if you had an onion the soup would be that little more magic". After awhile he asked, if she had a carrot, then, a leek, then a potao and so on. After about an hour he told her that the Magic Soup was ready.
Fairy tales usually do have a message and this tale has a few. The important one for me is: You can make a fine soup out of nearly any vegetable and any combination of them. 
The "Winter's Tale" uses the  often neglected Turnip as the main ingredient. 

A Winter’s Tale 

4-6 persons

Ingredients

I medium large swede turnip
1 medium to large onion
2 medium potatoes (optional depending on size of turnip)
2 medium  eating apples
2 TS rape seed oil
1 litre good chicken/vegetable stock
¼ tsp  ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground coriander
Black pepper to taste

Method:
1. Dice onion, cut turnip, potatoes, apples into small cubes/slices
2. Sauté onion in Rapeseed oil, add one after the other the vegetables
3. Add spices and stock
4. Bring to the boil and simmer for approx 30 min or until turnip is soft.
5. Puree the soup to a fine creamy consistency.
6. Adjust taste

To serve:
This soup comes into its own with the different accompagniments:

Crispy bacon pieces ( 2-3 pieces of streaky rasher)
Home made croutons
Cream or crème frâiche
Finely chopped parsley ( best flat leaf parsley

Home Made Croutons

Ingredients
2/3 slices of good white bread
2/3 Tbs. of good olive oil depending on the size of the bread
Salt and black pepper
1 crushed glove of garlic

Method
1. Cut the bread into small cubes
2. In a Bowl mix the oil, garlic and salt and pepper
3. Add the croutons and mix with the oil mixture
4. Place croutons on a baking tray and bake for 10 min at 175˚C