The Lesser-Used Veggie Martha Stewart Suggests Adding To Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is one of the world's most comforting dishes, as well as the perfect sick day food. The classic version is always delicious, but you can leave it to Martha Stewart (who needs no introduction for her experience in the kitchen) to put her own spin on it. In her recipe, which is posted to her website, she opts to trade the sweet flavor of carrots for that of one of its close cousins — the parsnip, which resembles a larger, more pale-colored carrot.

When compared to carrots, parsnips have a decidedly sweeter flavor with a mild resemblance to licorice, and I've noticed that on occasion, they can taste a little starchier than carrots. The taste difference is notable enough that the addition of parsnips to your chicken soup will definitely alter its flavor, so if you're looking to change up your recipe, this might be the route to go. Stewart simply puts them in her soup at a one-to-one ratio (one pound of parsnips to one pound of carrots), and flavors the rest of her broth with black peppercorn, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, onion, and, of course, chicken.

Parsnips aren't a particularly common vegetable in many American kitchens for a number of reasons: They can be difficult to grow (they take twice as long as carrots to mature), require specific soil and conditions, and look less appealing than their closest relatives, carrots and parsley (though they're not quite as "ugly" as celeriac, a root vegetable that Gordon Ramsey wants more people to use). Despite those facts, you can usually find parsnips in most major supermarkets. (They're located near the carrots, naturally.) They roast, steam, and stew as well as any other root vegetable, but you can also fry them; I've seen fried parsnips served as garnishes at restaurants on several occasions. They can also be added to mashed potatoes to give the spuds a slightly sweet flavor without changing the color of the mash.

The biggest strike against carrots is probably the flavor, which is hard to describe but very un-carrot-like. But when used in a supporting role to something richer like poultry, parsnips make sense as an aromatic. They're definitely a unique option if you want a slight departure from your usual carrots, so you might want to try following in Martha's footsteps sometime this winter and add some of them into your next batch of chicken soup.