Hi all.
My SO made carrot soup the other day.
Yeah, I know, doesnt sound that great. Of course neither does cold potato soup or raw fish or…
Now, I don’t LURV carrots nor do I HAKES em. Take em or leave em is my position on the subject.
But damn that was some good stuff!
If you are the slightest bit adventuresome, I’d look into this carrot soup thing…
Can we get your SO’s recipe? Last time anyone tried making carrot soup at my house, it kind of sucked.
I use the Thomas Keller recipe for carrot soup and it’s mind bogglingly amazing. Oddly, I cannot remember where I found it as it’s in neither The French Laundry Cookbook or Bouchon. Working from memory, it involves juicing 3 cups of carrot juice, using 1.5 cups of that with some honey and butter to glaze another lb of carrots then adding the rest of the juice, a tiny pinch of curry powder and pureeing.
It’s a lot of carrot for not that much soup but carrots are so cheap it’s worth it for the intensity of flavor. You only need a tiny teacup of it to be satisfied.
the cafeteria at work serves a carrot and ginger soup.
it is to die for.
I can’t get the recipe just this moment.
But one thing to consider.
I’ve had carrots that tasted like crunchy orange dirt. And I have had carrots that had a darn nice flavor.
I imagine which carrots you use makes a big difference.
I am pretty sure my SO recipe did not involve carrot juice. But I do suspect the carrots were more on the tasty side than dirt side.
This recipeis amazing.
I like my carrot soup with curry, something like this. I usually use coconut milk in it though.
One key to good carrots that don’t taste “like dirt” is to buy thin carrots. The big thick ones tend to have gone starchy and sometimes woody and often taste a bit gross.
This is my favorite carrot soup, and one of my favorite soups of all time. I originally found it in the book Low-Fat Jewish Cookbook (can’t remember the author!). The original recipe was Carrot Soup with Parsley Matzo Balls. I often do add matzo balls to teh soup, but I use a mix, as the matzo ball recipe that accompanied the soup made bland icky matzo balls.
Note: I have never ever had to use the optional sugar in this recipe. The low slow cooking of the carrots brings out their natural sweetness. Remember - use thin carrots!
Carrot Soup
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions – chopped
1 1/2 pounds carrots – peeled and diced
4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons white rice – uncooked
salt and pepper – to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon sugar – optional
Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy saucepan.
Add the onions and saute over medium-low heat, stirring often, until soft but not brown (7-10 minutes).
Add the carrots, 4 cups broth, rice, salt pepper, thyme and bay leaf.
Stir and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and cover; cook about 30 minutes or until the carrots and rice are very tender.
Remove and discard the bay leaf, let the soup cool 5 minutes.
Pour the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. (note - this is a dangerous step - hot liquids really expand in the blender - I recommend using an immersion blender instead!)
Return to sauce pan.
Bring to a simmer, stirring often.
Add additional broth, as needed, to reach desired consistency.
Bring to a boil, stirring.
Taste and adjust seasoning; add sugar if desired.
(Soup can be made to this point and kept covered in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Reheat over low heat before serving.)
I thought we would be talking about Carrot Cake Soup. Be sure to check out this accompanying story from the lads describing their experience. “Do you remember the time?”