Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup – Perfect for when you need soup that is delicious, nutritious and super, stupid easy.
Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs of carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut in large chunks
1 large sweet onion, peeled and cut into wedges
1 1/2 fennel bulbs, outer layer removed, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic still in their husks
olive oil
Approx 4 C vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Thyme Yogurt Cream
1/4 C plain greek yogurt
1/2 tsp good quality olive oil
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
pinch of salt
Nut & Spice Blend
3 T Pine Nuts
1 T Cumin Seeds
1 T Coriander
olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
toss onion, carrots and fennel with enough olive oil to coat and sprinkle with salt
pop veggies into oven for 20 minutes
after 20 minutes, add garlic cloves
roast an additional 20 minutes
remove and allow to cool.
Remove garlic from their husks and add garlic cloves back to veggies
put about 1/3 of veggies in a blender or food processor and pour in enough vegetable stock to cover. Puree for about a minute for silky, creamy soup. If you are after a heartier texture, just cut it off when it looks good. Then pour soup into a large stockpot.
Repeat until all veggies are blended. Slowly reheat on the stove.
For the Thyme Cream-While the soup is re-heating, combine greek yogurt, thyme, olive oil and salt.
For the Pine Nut Spice Blend, toast pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat-keep an eye on these- they will go from "no where near toasted" to "burst to a crisp" in the blink of an eye. Watch em! Transfer toasted nuts to plate.
Add cumin and coriander seeds to pan and toast until fragrant- a minute or two.
Combine toasted pine nuts, with toasted coriander and cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle along with a little fresh cracked pepper, pinch of salt and a drizzle of good quality olive oil. Grind until it just comes together. Check seasoning for s&p.
Serve soup with a dollop of thyme cream and sprinkle of the nut spice blend. We also like to add a few drops of good balsamic vinegar. Yum!