Roasted Carrot Soup
This recipe isn’t exactly quick- it takes about an hour start to finish- but it is definitely easy and for the most part it’s hands off. All you need are some carrots, onions, a couple of cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and a carton or some cans of chicken stock.
Roasting vegetables gives them a richer, sweeter taste. Carrots, which are sweet to begin with, are less cloying and more grown up when roasted with onions and garlic. Without any extra fat or dairy, Roasted Carrot soup is rich, creamy, healthy and simple. You can make the flavors more complex by adding a bit of ginger (fresh or powdered) or you can make it even creamier by serving with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt. If you prefer a vegetarian (vegan, actually) version, use vegetable stock.
Last night, with a pathetically empty refrigerator I had no choice but to keep it simple. With a fussy toddler tugging on my legs and a husband who had to work late I had neither the time nor the inclination to defrost anything from my freezer stash or run to the store for extra ingredients. We had Roasted Carrot Soup and half a loaf of French baguette for butter with dinner. There were no complaints, though Sam did insist on eating his soup with a fork.
Roasted Carrot Soup
2 lbs of carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (you can use baby carrots)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
6 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the carrots, onions and garlic in a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Cover tightly with foil and roast for 35 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock, covered, in a large pot on the lowest heat setting.
Remove the foil and add about a cup of stock to deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Roast for 15 minutes more uncovered.
Let the vegetables cool slightly. If you have an immersion blender add the vegetables to the stock and blend directly in the pot. Otherwise, remove the veggies to a blender and puree, adding stock as needed. (Don’t add all of the vegetables at once- do two batches. If the vegetables are too hot and the blender is too full it can cause pressure to build up and blow the top right off the blender. I’ve done it. Now I blend in two batches) Put the vegetable puree in the stock and stir to combine and reheat. Serve hot.
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