Monday 10 June 2013

Just in Time for Winter

Winter will always be the season of soups. They prove to be an easy meal when you have a cold and really don't have the energy to do much more than lie in bed wishing it was over.

The classic soup- pumpkin can be a drag to peel and chop so I went to for a less physical alternative- carrot!

And another good thing about soup is that it is not necessary to chop the vegetables all 'nicely' because in the end it all gets blended up anyway. The important thing is making sure the vegetables are cooked through and soft.

And my goodness, you end up with a sweet, moreish soup. Maybe it was because I used half of the proposed 150g of butter...

The original recipe also contained 1 bouquet garni but who has time to sort that out! For those of you who aren't aware of what this is; sprigs of thyme and parsley, and a bay leaf are tied together with non coloured string which gets placed in the liquid so the flavours diffuse and is then removed at the end. An alternative is to tie up the dried versions of the herbs mentioned in some muslin cloth.

SO do have a try of this simple, budget conscious recipe and let me know what you think!

Curried Carrot Soup

75g butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp curry powder
500ml chicken stock
A sprinkle of dried coriander, to serve


Melt the butter in a saucepan and sweat the onion, garlic and carrots until softened.




Meanwhile toast the cumin seeds in a separate saucepan until fragrant. Add the toasted cumin seeds and curry powder to the vegetables and cook a further 2-3 minutes.



Add the chicken stock and 100ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.




Once the vegetables have cooled down, blend the soup until smooth. Delicious!