Roasted Carrot Soup with Ginger and Thyme

There is a story behind this soup. I just created this blog yesterday and was SUPER eager to write my first post, but I still have one meal’s worth of groceries left for this week. I make a point each week not to go to the store again after my once-a-week-grocery-visit to save money…but I really wanted to create a recipe to post on my new blog!

So I compromised…

This soup is a concoction made from random leftover ingredients. You could really say I did this for them…it would just be wrong to let perfectly good vegetables go to waste!!  And it turned out to be delicious! It is thick, comforting, complex (in flavor-not preparation), and a little bit creamy. It is also cheap, easy, and healthy! That’s a trio that I am a fan of.

I’m not sure if you have ever had roasted carrots, but there is a delicious caramelizing process that happens in the oven that makes them taste kind of like sweet potatoes. It is by far my favorite preparation of carrots. And this is coming from a cooked-carrot-hater.

So in this soup, instead of just boiling the carrots, I decided to roast them first to incorporate some of that delicious flavor into the soup. Ginger and carrots is a classic combo, so I threw some of that in too.

The little dollop of sour cream at the end gives it the perfect, creamy finish. This soup doesn’t taste like it’s healthy, but it is! I love it when that happens.

So you start out with six medium carrots.

Pretty carrots :)

And then peel them, chop off the tops and bottoms, cut them half, slice those halves in half, drizzle them with a little olive oil, and season them with a little salt and pepper (not too much! You can always add more to the soup at the end). They should look like this…

Pop those babies into a 400 degree oven for around 25 minutes until they get a little bit caramelized and roast-y (probably not a real word…).

Meanwhile–chop an onion! And some garlic and ginger!

**Ginger tip–keep it in the freezer. It will last WAY longer and you won’t even have to thaw it before chopping**

Throw that trio into a pot with some olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

Mmm…I love the smell of onions and garlic cooking.

Let this mixture cook until the onions are translucent and soft, and then throw in your chicken stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, and cumin. Just keep that on the stove simmering until your carrots are ready.

Ding! Carrots are done. They should look something like this…

Throw the roasted carrots into your soup! The carrots shouldn’t be cooked through yet. I wanted the roasted flavor in the finished soup, but I also wanted the carrots to cook in the liquid for a while so they would absorb that flavor as well. The carrots should simmer in the soup for about 25-30 minutes OR (this is a very important “or”) until they are tender when you pierce them with a knife. If it has been thirty minutes and they aren’t tender yet, you need to keep cooking them! It is very important for the texture of the end product. SO–simmer them in the soup until they are tender.

Yum…I could eat the soup just like this. Try some of the broth…it is soooo flavorful and comforting.

Now is when you puree the soup. Make sure you take out the bay leaf and thyme sprigs first! There are three different ways to puree the soup: food processor, blender, or immersion blender. I used an immersion blender, but since the carrot pieces are so big, it’s a little more complicated. You have to keep picking up the immersion blender and pushing it down on top of the carrots and blending for a few seconds until all the carrots are small enough that you can just move the blender around normally. I chose this method so that I would end up with less dishes to clean, but the food processor and blender would work just as well. Just make sure you get the puree as smooth as possible.

Once the soup is completely pureed, season it! I had to add a decent amount of salt and pepper to my final soup, but it will vary based on your personal taste (I tend to like a lot of salt!) When it is seasoned perfectly, ladle it into bowls, top it with about a tablespoon (at least) of sour cream, a sprinkle of fresh thyme, and a little bit of pepper. And then you’re done! Eat up!

Delicious.

Here is the recipe:

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