Carrot Soup

Carrot soup is very good for you. More importantly, it tastes nice. Carrots are sweet and autumnal without being heavy and dull; a plate of bright-orange carrot soup is like a portion of sunshine.

This recipe scales easily so you can double or half it, eat it all or freeze the left-overs.

Serves: 4. Prep: 5 minutes. Cooking time: 40 minutes.
Stores: In the fridge, 2-3 days. In the freezer, up to 3 months.

Ingredients

• 1 kilo carrots
• 2 oinions
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons stock powder, or 1 stock cube
• 1 litre boiling water

Tools

• Chopping board
• Knife
• Large pot, ideally with a lid
• Potato peeler
• Tablespoon measure, or tablespoon
• Measuring jug
• Wooden spoon
• Stick blender

Method

1. Heat the oil in the pot.
2.  Chop the onion and add to the pot.
3. While the onion is softening, chop the carrots into 2 cm coins. Add to the pot as you go.
4. When the onions are soft, add the stock and half a litre of hot water.
5. Bring to the boil, and add the rest of the water.
6. Cover and let simmer, or boil, until the carrots are soft. Exactly how long this takes depends on how patient you were with cutting them: the smaller the pieces, the quicker they cook through. Give it half an hour and you should be fine.
7. Whiz with the stick blender until it’s at your preferred smoothness. I like to leave enough lumps that you know it’s home made, but not so many that you need to chew.
8. Add more water if you think it’s too thick.

Variations

• Carrot & orange: Add the juice of an orange. If you want a heady orange kick, add the zest of half an orange with the carrots.
• Carrot & coriander: Add a tablespoon of ground coriander to the oil and onion and cook for a couple of minutes to release the coriander’s flavour. Then, just before serving, add a couple of handfuls of finely chopped fresh coriander.
• Carrot & ginger: Finely chop a half-thumb sized piece of fresh ginger and add with the carrots. Taste half-way though and add more ginger if you want a truly fiery soup.