Newton Dee pasta and parsnip soup

Last Saturday we went for lunch at Newton Dee. It has been a long time since I’ve been there and it was delightful. They had a good selection of cakes and I always enjoy looking at their crafts.

I stocked up on goodies in their grocery store including this fantastic find of Newton Dee pasta made from Aberdeenshire-grown wheat. Yes, it’s more expensive than pasta you’d get at the supermarket but it’s good to support local growers and it was worth it for the flavour and texture.

I made one of our favourite weekly meals: pea pesto pasta.

This is made with frozen peas, tumeric, chilli, fresh basil, lemon juice and cashew nuts all ground up together to form a sort of pesto that you can mix with pasta. Then sprinkle pepper and pine nuts on top. It’s very easy and healthy.

Sainsbury’s are currently selling bags of parsnips for 15p with a Nectar card. Without a Nectar card they’re still very cheap at 75p for 500g. That’s ridiculous. How does the farmer make any money out of that? They’re grown in Lincolnshire.

I’ve turned the whole bag into parsnip and red lentil soup for dinner tonight. Another very cheap and healthy meal. We’re all feeling a bit under the weather here and fighting the latest virus doing the round so a creamy soup is just what a raw, dry throat needs. Hopefully we’ll all have recovered for Christmas next week.