I love Food52. It has accompanied me since I begun my daily kitchen adventures after the birth of Mika. With freshly homemade vegetable broth (see here) on the ready, I checked for my options and the roasted carrot soup on Food52 caught my eye.
The roasting of the carrots, as seen in the picture below showing the olive oil coated carrots in all its glory on the ready for the oven, brings out a lovely sweetness in the carrots. This depth I believe could not be achieved anyway else.
Ready for some carrot soup? This recipe serves four.
Ingredients
6 to 8 large carrots (about 1 3/4 pounds)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
6 cups vegetable stock (good quality, not too high in sodium)
1 piece ginger, an inch long, peeled
1 sprig thyme, plus more for garnish
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Peel and cut the carrots into 1/2-inch rounds. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Set an oven rack 6 to 8 inches from the heat source and turn on the broiler. Broil the carrots until they brown and soften, turning them over with a spatula every 5 minutes or so; this should take 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil, add the ginger and the sprig of thyme and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Put the onion in a medium stock pot with the remaining olive oil. Brown the onion over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, and then add the carrots.
Remove the ginger and thyme from the stock and add the stock to the pot with the onions and carrots. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to puree.
Use an immersion or a standard blender to puree the mixture until smooth. If the soup seems too thick, add more stock or water and reheat gently. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, garnish with chopped fresh thyme.
Notice that the recipe had asked for 6 cups of broth. Silly me did not measure the amount of homemade vegetable broth I had. I had negligently poured in all the broth I had, which was about 4 cups and continued cooking. It was during the pureeing part that I figured out that I had not enough liquids. That turned out to be a good thing as I quickly ladled up some for Mika. He had loved every spoonful of it. *Pat on the back*
As for the rest of the puree, I thinned it out with some store-bought chicken stock and served it up. I know, store-bought chicken stock, but that was the only other stock I have on hand. Lesson of the day, always read the recipe and understand the quantities required! Was it still a good soup? Definitely! Heck, if you don’t like carrot soup, you can make it for your baby as roasted carrot puree!
Cloth and Apron 