Creamy Carrot Soup, ‘Cuz It Ain’t Summer Yet

We often find ourselves with an abundance of carrots in our house. Having two pet bunnies, carrots are one of their favorite treats, right behind bananas, grapes and berries. But they can’t have high-sugar fruits and vegetables too often, so sometimes we need to come up with uses for extra carrots.

With the temperature spiking and then nosediving, it’s not entirely inappropriate to post another soup recipe. This one is pretty light in body, and can be almost as good cold as it is hot. This is one of Liz’s favorites, as well. I present to you, Creamy Carrot Soup.

There’s lots of aromatics and spices that make up the exciting flavour profile of this soup. The onions are sweated with lots of garlic and ginger. Cinnamon, caraway seed, coriander, cumin, basically if it starts with a ‘C’, you can throw it in here.

It’s also very adaptable. I used half heavy cream and half coconut milk for the liquid, as well as some chicken stock to thin it out. However, you could keep this guy completely vegan if you wanted, replacing the cream with all coconut milk, and thinning with vegetable stock or water. It’s all up to you.

This soup once again relies on the Vitamix, or a similarly powerful high-speed blender to attain its silky-smooth texture. As I’ve said before, texture is very important to me when making soup. If you don’t have a powerful blender and aren’t a texture snob, I still recommend giving it a go. You can purée right in the pot with an immersion blender, if you have one of those. It just has to work for you, because honestly? I don’t ‘carrot’ all.

No?

Anybody?

Alright, here’s the recipe:

Creamy Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

• 3-4 yellow onions, peeled and sliced very thinly
• 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced very thinly
• 1-2 large knobs ginger, peeled and sliced very thinly
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into 3-4 pieces
• 1-2 green cardamom pod, smashed with the side of a knife
• 1 TBSP caraway seed
• 1 TBSP coriander seed
• 1 TBSP ground cumin
• 10-12 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 sprig thyme, leaves only
• 1 398mL can coconut milk, well shaken before opening
• 500mL 35% cream
• Chicken stock, as needed
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Extra-virgin olive oil, optional garnish
• Full-fat plain yogurt or sour cream, optional garnish
• 3-4 sprigs cilantro, stems only, thinly sliced, optional garnish

Method:

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat a film of canola oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions with a heavy pinch of salt and let them sweat until soft and translucent, about 10-12 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ginger and bay leaves. Sweat 5-6 minutes more, until garlic and ginger have softened.
3. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, caraway, coriander and cumin. Raise the heat to medium. Stir constantly to combine and bloom the spices for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the carrots to the pot, stirring to combine. Return the heat to medium-low. Add the thyme leaves, cover the pot and allow to cook until the carrots are very soft, stirring occasionally, about 15-20 minutes.
5. Remove the lid, bring the heat to medium and add the cream and coconut milk. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Ensure the carrots are very soft.
6. Remove the pot from the heat, and set on a sturdy, heatproof surface next to the blender. Ladle the soup into the jug until it is no more than half full. This is important, as blending hot liquids can cause them to explode out of the top if the jug is too full. Snap the jug top into place, ensure the steam plug is secure and place the jug on the blender base.
7. Begin blending at the lowest speed. Once everything has been broken down, gradually increase the speed to maximum, while holding the lid down with a kitchen towel. This is just a precaution, but we always do it in restaurants. After blending on maximum speed for 1-1.5 minutes, turn the blender back down to off and pour the blended soup into a new pot, optionally straining through a fine-mesh strainer.
8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the soup has been blended and transferred to the new pot.
9. Place the new pot over medium-low heat and gently warm the soup to service temperature, tasting and adjusting seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
10. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and a pinch of the cilantro stems, if using.

This soup is great for a rainy-day lunch or dinner. Summer may be just around the corner, but with the temperature dipping every now and then, a good soup is an indispensable tool in any cook’s arsenal. So, what’s up, doc? Why don’t you try this one?