Carrot Soup

As the weather turns cooler, my cooking style turns to comfort foods. A couple months ago, during an insomniac moment, I happened to catch an episode of a cooking show with the Barefoot Contessa. Not a clue what the name of the show was..."The Barefoot Contessa", maybe?

Anyway, she was making a creamed veggie soup by throwing cooked veggies from the previous night's meal into the blender and adding heavy cream. Oh, that was easy, I thought, and passed into unconsciousness.

My typical go-to comfort soup is potato. No more.

The Twins and Baby Gardener were out in the garden with me looking for lunch. We dug our typical blue potatoes and then moved over to the carrots, which with a little help from my shovel, they were able to pull out on their own. There is something magical seeing a triumphant three-year-old pull a huge 8"-long carrot out of the ground.

They put the half dozen carrots in their little buckets along with the shiny, purple-y blue potatoes in their little buckets and we walked back to the house.

My Carrot Soup

Cook until tender in a medium sauce pan 1/2 full of water with 2 chicken bouillon cubes:

2-3 cups of washed, sliced carrots
1 cup of washed, q1uarted blue potatoes (I'm sure pink, red, yellow, or regular potatoes work equally well!)
12 Yum hybrid peppers washed, halved, and seeded (use a cup of sweet red pepper as a substitute)

Reserve 1/2 cup of tender carrots. Blend the rest of the sauce pan contents including the cooking broth in a blender until it is a smooth puree.

Make a roux:

In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt 3 Tablespoons butter, when melted add 3 Tablespoons flour. (I first made this for the Twins and since SIL is gluten-intolerant, I used a gluten-free all purpose flour mix and it turned out equally well.) Bring the butter/flour mix to a bubble for approximately one minute.

Then slowly add either 1 cup whole milk or half & half. Stir well. Add contents of the blender, stir well.

To the roux and pureed carrot mix, add:

1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
the reserved carrots
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or one clove of minced garlic.

Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until desired consistency. If too thick, add more whole milk or half & half.