Carrot soup...

When you end up with too many carrots, in this house you make soup! I added a recipe for this soup a while ago which you can find here but it is such a delicious favorite that I had to post a photo of the finished product in it's delicious orangeness!

I also recently bought a new blender, chopper thing and used the slicing function on it to quickly chop up all of the ingredients for the soup.  It's amazing how quick it made it all and I think the soup was prepared, cooked and served within 30 minutes.  Wowsers!  I don't think that there is anything wrong with chopping things in a food processor, especially if they are going to be blended at the end.  Maybe give it a go when you are a little time poor for this soup.

Curry Spiced carrot soup with apples...

(you will need quite a few of these guys!)

I had this soup at the New England Soup Factory in Boston last year. It was so delicious that I have been trying to replicate the recipe. Yes, the New England Soup Factory folk do have a book with their amazing recipes, however this one wasn't in the book!

So here is my take on this recipe.

You will need:

• about 750 grams to a kilo of carrots.
• one small sweet potato.
• 2 sticks of celery (with leaves)
• one small brown onion chopped
• one small red onion chopped
• 2 small granny smith apples, peeled and chopped into quarter style
• approximately a litre of vegetable stock
  
• 3 heaped teaspoons of mild curry paste ( I used a korma style with coconut and coriander)
• half teaspoon of minced ginger
  
• pinch of cumin seeds
• coriander chopped for garnish
• 2 heaped tablespoons of coconut cream (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons of samba olek (chilli to taste!)

1. pop onions and celery in a heavy based pot with a good splash of olive oil and sweat down.
2. add the sweet potato and carrot and heat through for a few minutes until all ingredients are covered with the oil.
3. add the curry paste and ginger and toss through to cook off.
4. add the stock and simmer with lid on until all the ingredients are soft and starting to fall apart.
5. using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.
6. add the other flavours, salt and pepper, cumin seeds, samba olek and coconut cream. Add more coconut cream if you prefer a creamier soup.
   
7. add the apple and put pot back on a low heat, covered for around 5 minutes or until the apples have softened.
8. Serve garnished with freshly chopped coriander.

This soup is very filling and the apple adds a lovely sweetness to the curry carrots. For a more substantial soup you could serve with some hot naan bread!

Let me know how you go if you try these recipe! Miss Mardi xxx