This is a really, really simple soup but it tastes excellent! You need a blender or a food processor though.
Ingredients:
A 1-pound bag of baby carrots (cause I'm lazy, but you can use a pound of cleaned, peeled large carrots as well)
1 red onion (I'd recommend you not substitute with white onion, the taste is so much better)
2 celery stalks
1 large potato
1 cup 15% cream
Chicken stock
Olive oil
Lotsa pepper!
1. Drizzle olive the bottom of a large pan and turn heat to medium. Basically, I lightly sautee the veggies before adding the stock. Start by chopping up the onion, as they'll start to caramelize and release all sorts of flavour goodness.
2. Start adding the carrots. The reason I like using a whole bag of baby carrots is that they're pre-peeled and measured. Chopping them up will reduce cooking time, so chop away until the bag is done, adding them to the onion as you go along. Don't forget to stir veggies once in a while you're chopping and adding carrots :)
3. Chop the celery and add it to the mix.
4. Peel and chop the potato, add it to the mix.
5. Add chicken stock, enough to cover all the veggies. If you don't have enough stock, you can use water instead. The soup is a tad less rich in flavour, but it's still quite good. I'm not fond of them, but you can use bouillon cubes as well.
Turn up the heat until the liquid is at a heavy simmer and leave until the carrots are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Dump everything in a blender or food processor (careful, it's hot!) and pulse blend until smooth. Add the cream and blend for 30 seconds until well mixed.
Return the soup to the pan, add salt and lots of pepper (to taste, actually, but this soup is best when very peppery. If you used bouillon cubes, careful with the salt, those things tend to be salty in advance).Serve immediately.
Serves 4. Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for a few days. This soup actually freezes quite well if you want to make it in batches and thaw it later on.
Comments:
1. Instead of carrots, you can use 4-5 large leeks, cleaned and chopped, to make a cream of leek soup. The methodology is exactly the same. I've never tried it, but I figure you could use this recipe for any cream of vegetable, like broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin or mushroom. Just remember the color of the veggies you're adding. Carrots will make this soup a vivid orange. Broccoli would be a bright green. Adding both would make a rather unappetizing brown, but my feeling is that it would taste good :D
2. For heart-smart people, the cream can be replaced with milk (that's what I do, actually). Cream does make the soup feel richer, but it's also bad on the arteries. I use 2% milk and the soup still feels like liquid velvet going down.