Soups are my thing. I grew up with a bowl of soup at the start of every meal (lunch and dinner). I love eating them, I feel comfortable making them and I am always swapping ingredients around. That is what I did to get to the best carrot soup I have cooked so far. This soup is like velvet and tastes fantastic. And it’s a soup for all occasions, casual or fancy. The cheesy croutons are a little luxury that give it a bit of interest. Alternatively, a little swirl of cream should also impress your guests if you are not in the mood to make croutons (although these are really easy!). Or just have it on its own, believe me it is still a treat.
I think what has made the difference here were a few things: I swapped the usual starchy potato with the softer and arguably healthier courgette to form the ‘backbone’ of the soup; I swapped the usual onion with the more interesting leek; I chopped the vegetables quite small; I used butter as the main fat component instead of olive oil (naughty I know, but super yummy and remember I swapped out the carb-heavy potato, so we’re sort of even?); and I used Boullion to make my stock. I am in love with these stock cubes, they really are a notch above the others. If you already have homemade chicken stock, then even better! And if you are a vegetarian or have vegetarian guests, you can add vegetarian stock instead. I don’t know which of these things combined to make this soup a real treat, but I guess that is completely irrelevant at this stage. According to my 7-year old son “it was off the scale of good”!
Carrot soup with cheesy croutons
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A very tasty soup with a velvety consistency and a little luxury added in the form of croutons topped with melted Parmesan cheese.
Chop your courgettes, leeks and carrots into small pieces.
In a tall pan, heat a little olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter and add the shopped vegetables so they can gently soften and caramelise. This should take around 10 minutes.
Add 1.2 litres of chicken stock (I made mine with Bouillon stock cubes).
Bring to the boil, add a tied sprig of parsley and let it simmer for 25 minutes.
When the time is up, remove the parsley bouquet and whizz everything with a handheld blender until it is all creamy.
Toast some rye bread and cut into small squares to form the croutons.
Grate some parmesan over the croutons and place under the grill for a few minutes until it starts to melt.
Place a few cheesy croutons on each bowl of soup and serve. Yummy!
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