Author Notes: A toasty warm version of a traditional style carrot soup. – Reeve —Reeve
Food52 Review: When we first tasted this soup, we were puzzled. How could a dish that calls for only seven ingredients (not counting salt and pepper), and just five simple steps, be so complex in flavor? Reeve has devised a soup that can be put together in about half an hour, yet would be a great first course for a dinner party. It’s dairy-free, but supple and creamy, and roasting the carrots gives them sweet, earthy depth. We especially love Reeve’s technique of infusing the broth with ginger before making the soup, ensuring a gentle but pervasive heat. We used a good quality vegetable stock, and we recommend you do the same — since there are so few ingredients here, each one really counts. – A&M —The Editors
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients
-
1 3/4
pounds carrots (about 6-8 large carrots)
-
1/4
cup olive oil
-
1
pinch salt (more to taste)
-
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
-
1
pinch 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.
1 of 25
Photo by Sarah Jampel
2 of 25
3 of 25
Six of the nine ingredients: onion, olive oil, ginger, thyme, carrots, and garlic. (Missing from the photo: vegetable stock, salt and pepper.)
4 of 25
Photo by Food52
We cut our carrots into 1-inch rounds. If your carrots are fat like ours, you may want to slice them into 1/2-inch pieces to ensure they're nearly cooked through by the time the broiler works…
5 of 25
Photo by Food52
Amanda neatly arranges carrots on a baking sheet.
6 of 25
Photo by Food52
They get tossed with a little olive oil and some salt.
7 of 25
Photo by Food52
And then under the broiler!
8 of 25
Photo by Food52
Smashin' garlic.
9 of 25
Photo by Food52
We put the thyme and the ginger into the stock to infuse.
10 of 25
Photo by Food52
After about 5 minutes under the broiler, our carrots looked like this. We flipped them and put them back in the oven.
11 of 25
Photo by Food52
After about 15 minutes in the oven, our carrots looked like toasted orange marshmallows. We scraped off any spots that seemed especially charred but left most of the browning.
12 of 25
Photo by Food52
Amanda browns the onions to start the base of the soup.
13 of 25
Photo by Food52
Once they were soft and caramelized, she added the garlic.
14 of 25
Photo by Food52
And we tipped in the roasted carrots.
15 of 25
Photo by Food52
In goes the infused veggie stock — sans ginger and thyme sprig.
16 of 25
Photo by Food52
17 of 25
Photo by Food52
After a 5 minute simmer, we tried to blend the soup, but our fat carrot chunks proved too much for this immersion blender.
18 of 25
Photo by Food52
So, we resorted to the trusty Waring.
19 of 25
Photo by Food52
Much better!
20 of 25
Photo by Food52
Time to taste!
21 of 25
Photo by Food52
See how happy we are during this second batch of blending, fortified with spoonfuls of delicious soup?
22 of 25
Photo by Food52
If your soup is too thick, just add some water or more broth and reheat gently before serving.
23 of 25
Photo by Food52
24 of 25
Photo by Food52
25 of 25
Photo by Food52