Ivan and Cully made this soup and two others (pea and carrot) for a starter at a charity dinner party they hosted on St Patrick's Day. They presented the three soup in shot glasses so that it represented the three colours fo the Irish flag.

Serves 6-8 normal bowls and 15 ish shot glasses

50g Butter

110g white onions chopped

1 garlic clove crushed

375g parsnips peeled and chopped

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of garam masala

1.2 litres of hot vegetable stock

150ml cream

Garnish with garam masala

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, add the chopped onions, garlic and parsnip, season with salt and pepper and toss until well coated. Cover and cook over a gentle heat until soft and tender, about ten minutes. Be careful not to have too high a heat, you will burn the garlic and make the soup bitter.
Add in the garam masala and stir for a few minutes, to release the aromas of the spice, slowly add in your hot veg stock. Simmer until the parsnip is cooked. Liquidise the soup and then push through a sieve to give a wonderful creamy texture, add the cream and check the seasoning, if you feel the soup is too thick add a little more stock. Pop into the fridge to chill. Put into serving vessel and garnish with garam masala.

Note: We get our garam masala from our good friends at Green Saffron. Their web site is www.greensaffron.com if you want to contact them.