This recipes is from Paul Flynn’s Family Food cookbook and here are his words on wisdom on this particular recipe; “I wanted this soup to have an Irish feel. Turnip – possibly the most humble root vegetable – makes a wonderful soup. For an everyday soup you can leave out the cider. The black pudding is there for texture as well as flavour, but it’s added at the last minute so just leave it out if you don’t fancy it.”

Serves: Six

Time: One hour

Ingredients

40g butter

Splash of Vita D’or sunflower oil

2 onions, peeled and diced

Knob ginger (about 40g), peeled and chopped

A sprig of fresh thyme

1 turnip (about 800g), peeled and diced into 1 inch pieces

Pinch of Kania ground cinnamon

1 tbsp Belbake plain flour

1 can (440ml) Woodgate dry cider

1 Cusina chicken stock cube, crumbled

1½ litres water

½ tbsp Batts English mustard

50g Glensallagh black pudding, finely chopped

Method

Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot over a medium heat and add the butter and oil. Once the butter melts and begins to sizzle, add in the onion, ginger and thyme, then cover and cook slowly for about 15 minutes until the onions are soft, transparent and completely cooked through.

Add the turnip, cinnamon and flour and mix together well.

Add the cider, stock cube and water and leave to simmer for about 40 minutes, uncovered.

While the soup is simmering, heat the grill and put a small splash of oil on to a tray. Add the black pudding, turn to coat it in the oil and grill for a few minutes until the pudding has crisped up just a little bit. Then set aside.

Check on the soup as it cooks, adding more water if needed. The soup is ready when the turnip is cooked and is soft through. Pick out the thyme, add the mustard and blitz in a blender until smooth.

Taste and season as needed.

Serve the soup in warmed soup bowls with the crisped black pudding scattered on top and some fresh thyme leaves. The slower you cook the onions, the better, as this will make them really sweet and add lovely depth of flavour to the soup.