Sunday 20 January 2008

My favourite quick carrot soup

You say 'pureed soup' - I think 'carrot soup with coriander and aniseed'

For me, it's the quintessence of pureed soup, it's a liquid dream, it's the warm comfort of a cold evening, the cooling pleasure of a hot afternoon. It's versatile, it's under my skin.


I've almost always got organic carrots in the fridge that we've grown ourselves. They're full of taste and have got a homely flavour. Making this soup is very easy and, fortunately, someone has usually peeled the carrots before I get my hands on them:) In wintertime, it's great to enjoy it warm, but it's just as wonderful when eaten cold. I especially love that during summertime! We do have 1-2 weeks of hot weather here!;)

Chicken broth can be replaced by vegetable broth, heavy cream or sour cream can be used in place of cream cheese. Whatever you've got handy! Cream cheese can also be flavoured with herbs /onion/garlic/whatnot.

Carrot soup with coriander and aniseed
(serves 4)

400 g carrots
1 onion
1 tbsp butter
8 dl chicken broth
ground coriander seeds
ground aniseed
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper
  1. Slice the onion and the carrots, sautee in butter in a saucepan until onion is transparent, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the broth and boil until carrots have turned quite tender, 20 minutes will do fine.
  3. Puree the potful, then return to the saucepan.
  4. Add cream cheese and flavour with coriander, aniseed, salt (if needed), pepper and sugar to taste. Heat, but don't let the soup reach boiling point.
The soup is creamy, even a little portion of cream cheese does wonders! The flavour of carrots is sweetish, but the spices push it to a limit. Coriander and aniseed are not very strong flavourers, they're rather mild, so they suit carrot perfectly. What pleasure!

This time I served the soup with some crispy rye bread cubes, but it's equally good with white bread cubes or grilled chicken. More often than not I like to eat it plainly, without a topping, because the soup itself completes the taste. That sounds weird enough:)

So I guess it's also the perfect recipe for this month's Monthly mingle, themed Comfort foods. Although it's not something from my childhood or anything I'd eat together with my family, I'm sure this soup will guide me through the best and worst moments of the life still ahead of me:D

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll have to try this version of carrot soup. The coriander and aniseed are well used spices at our house, so I foresee a new favorite dish.

Anonymous said...

I'm planning on having a soup week. I want to make a different soup everyday. Your carrot soup looks like it is going to make my list.

thank you

Emily said...

You know, the carrot soup looks/sounds really good, but I think the rye croutons make it stand out. I think that combination is interesting.

Evelin said...

papin, do try it! for me the combo of coriander and aniseed resemble carrot soup, it's not so usual in other dishes here. When my brother gave me some spice mixes for birthday last year, I even named one of them 'carrot soup mix', because it mainly consists of those 2 flavours!

chuck, a soup week is a great idea. Do tell me later how it worked out!

emiline, for me it's funny, because rye bread is one of the basic things I eat! but I'm sre it makes anything more interesting;)

Helene said...

Home carrots are nice and sweet so that could totally be dessert for dinner, with gingerbread croutons...I know, I know...my mind is one-directional!
Looks fantastic and very comforting! Great entry!

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

I've had carrot soup many a time - but not with aniseed. That's a new one on me. Sounds great, though, and it certainly all looks beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Ooh Oh, I've never had carrot soup! It's going straight on my recipe to-do list! I'll have to get my hands on some good carrots from some of the farms around here.

Evelin said...

tartelette, I like carrots in desserts! Especially if they have a nice caramel flavour to them. I like your idea of serveing with gingerbraed croutons, but I'd want to leave out the chicken broth then;)

aforkfulofspaghetti, thanks! Though this one is my favourite, I'm very eager to try all kinds of carrot soups:)

clumsy, you have to change that! and quickly! you haven't lived until you haven't tried carrot soup. or something like that;)

Anonymous said...

I love carrot soup. I usually make it with cumin and some reduced fresh orange juice. But this sounds just as lovely.

Anonymous said...

I love carrot soup and make several different variations of it. This is perfect.

Evelin said...

r khooks, cumin and orange juice sound great. I've never thought about using reduced juice though, but it seems to be a good way to get more taste. might try that one out;)

meeta, thanks!

sarah jane said...

Randomly found your blog today and just *happened* to have all of the ingredients for this on hand! The only change i made was a tsp of sherry just before the broth.

It turned out great!!! Thanks ever so much for the post :)

comprar yate said...

Oh my god, there is a great deal of helpful data above!