Student Suppers: A Warming Carrot Soup

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My current obsession is brightly coloured puréed vegetable soups. Though we have had some breaks of a few days were we’d had some hot beach weather, and while we don’t get weather like London or New York, contrary to popular belief Los Angeles does actually get cold. I know, terrible isn’t it? Poor me. Anyway, so to keep me comforted against the chill I have been living off of Nigella Lawson’s incredible recipe for Slime Soup (it tastes much better than it sounds, it is actually a Halloween recipe that I love all year round), but there is only so much peas and mozzarella cheese one girl can eat, so I started to turn to other vegetables.

As a child I was always wary of carrot soup. To this day I still hate boiled or steamed carrots (that awful texture), and carrot soup at school for me while I have heard it was actually quite good, always had coriander (cilantro) in it, which is a taste I have only come to like in the last few months. So, I think when I actually decided to try this recipe, I don’t think I had it in my head if I liked carrot soup or not. I’m not sure why, but I made it anyway. I’m rather glad that I did, because I think it is now one of my favourite blended soups in my repertoire:  rich, creamy, warming and with a little bit of a kick; easy to make and actually quite good for you. This recipe I have adapted from my favourite source, BBC Good Food Magazine (the November 2007 issue, incidentally) and serves two people, easily doubled.

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A Warming Carrot Soup

  • Author: Rachel Phipps
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 3-4 1x
  • Category: Spup
  • Cuisine: British

Description

This easy, warming carrot soup is perfect if you’ve picked up one of those 59p, reduced to clear sacks of carrots from the supermarket.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 Large Carrots
  • 1 Leek
  • A Large Knob of Butter 
  • A Pinch of Dried Chilli Flakes
  • 1 tbsp Honey
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 1 Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cube in 1.25 Litres of Water
  • Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper 

Instructions

  1. Wash (this part is important, I forgot to do this on my first attempt and I ended up with gritty soup) your leek and slice it.
  2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and gently fry the leek for a few minutes until softened  Add the honey, chilli flakes and honey and stir.
  3. Chop the carrots into medium chunks (leaving the skins on) and add to the pan. Follow with the bay leaf and the stock.
  4. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for half an hour.
  5. Remove the pan from the heat and use a hand held blender to reduce the soup to a purée, remembering to remove the bay leaf first.
  6. Once the soup is smooth return to a medium heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through and serve. Here, I have served it with a swirl of double (heavy) cream, more freshly ground black pepper and a little bit of fresh coriander (cilantro).

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