Quick and easy snacks

Potato and parsnip soup with chorizo

SERVES 6 - 8

50g (1¾oz) butter
225g (8oz) potatoes, peeled and chopped
225g (8oz) parsnips, peeled and chopped
175g (6oz) onions, chopped
salt and pepper
850 ml (1½pt) chicken or vegetable stock
150ml (5 fl.oz) milk, or half milk and half cream
225g (8oz) chorizo or kabanossi sausage, sliced into rounds ¼cm (1/10 in) thick
sprig of flat parsley

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the potatoes, parsnips and onions, season with salt and pepper and stir to coat the veggies in butter. Cover with a butter wrapper (if you have one, otherwise use a disc of greaseproof paper), put on the lid and sweat over a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil and continue cooking until the vegetables are all soft. Liquidise the soup either in batches in a blender or with a hand-held blender, add the milk and season to taste. While the vegetables are cooking, fry the chorizo in a tiny bit of olive oil in a pan. Take off the heat when it's nice and crisp, reserving the oil. To serve, put a ladleful of the hot soup into a warmed bowl and top with about 6 or 7 slices of cooked chorizo. Finish by drizzling a little oil from the pan over the top. Decorate with a few flat parsley leaves.

NOTE: This soup freezes perfectly, and is lovely without the parsnips. If not using the meat, add some herbs into the soup just before liquidising it.