Into the Kitchen: Carrot and Herb Soup

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Carrot and Herb Soup

Published : 6:00 AM Author : Tamara Hart Heiner

Soup is pure comfort food for me. There's a funny story my husband likes to tell about when we were first married, and I made soup for a month straight. I did this for a couple of reasons: a) I love soup b) soup is quick and easy c) it was January and freezing d) I'd budgeted $100 a month for the two of us and we were blowing through it.

Turns out my husband's not a soup person. I found out about it the same time the neighbors did, when after a month of soup he had a minor explosion and let me know his true feelings.

I still make soup, but I limit it to once--maybe twice--a week. And what better way than use up my beautiful rainbow carrots than a carrot soup?

Ingredients:

2 T butter or oil

1 lb carrots, thinly sliced (peel if you want. I don't)

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, sliced

2 garlic clvoes, minced

1 inch garlic, peeled and chopped (I cheat here. I have a jar of minced garlic that I bought at the Asian market, and I throw in 1/2 tsp whenever an inch is called for)

1 rosemary sprig

1 thyme spring

salt

6 C chicken broth

1 small potato, chopped (again, peel if you want. Or save yourself some time, add vitamins to your veggies, and don't)

4 T butter

Prep your veggies and toss them in a bowl while you heat the oil/butter in a large soup pot.

Toss the veggies and herbs into the pot of butter. Turn to cover with butter. Put the lid on and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the veggies are soft.

Remove the lid and pour in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add the potatoes. Partially cover the pot, turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Puree the soup, if you want. I used an immersion blender to puree half of it but wanted some chunks in it. Be sure to remove the herb stems before you puree it (most of the leaves should fall off, leaving you with just the stems to throw away).