Crema di Carote - Cream of Carrot Soup

While carrots can be served year-round, they are best in spring and summer. Therefore, it's easy to deduce that they are not likely to be at their best in January, in Park City, Utah. Nonetheless, when I was planning my meal and preparing the shopping list for the Park City Wild Oats, I decided to make a carrot soup. My decision making process for this particular meal was not the standard whimsical approach (strongly tempered by what is actually in season, available and fresh) - I had a newly pregnant and very nauseated friend to feed.

We were in town for Sundance and the aforementioned nauseous one's film premiere. That evening, in our adorable little rental house, I sat with my enormous cookbook (I lugged it with me all the way to Park City much to my friends' surprise & amusement.) and read off suggestions while J. deliberated and tried to decide if her stomach could handle it. We settled on Cream of Carrot Soup & Risotto Milanese.

The soup was fairly easy: I chopped 4 1/2 cups of carrots and put them in a pan with water to cover them, a garlic clove and a pinch of salt. I brought it to a boil over medium heat and cooked until most of the liquid was gone. Next, I puréed the lot in a blender.*

I poured the mixture back in the pan, added 2 1/4 cups of warm milk and 1 3/4 cups of beef stock. The recipe called for meat stock and since I was spending my day wandering around Park City, I didn't have time to make my own. Also, I would normally use vegetable broth or chicken broth for this type of soup, but decided to try the meat broth since we were able to find organic natural beef stock. I mixed well and cooked for 10 minutes until it was fairly thick, then I seasoned it, topped it with some nutmeg, 1/3 cup grated fontina cheese and some pepper. The soup was hot enough to melt the cheese, so I didn't put the plates under a broiler as the recipe suggested.

The soup was yummy - very creamy without being too rich. The fontina cheese was a tasty touch I wouldn't have thought of: it added both interesting texture and soothing creaminess. The meat broth did add a lot to the flavour and made me rethink my tendency to avoid using it. In the future, when I make this, I'll probably add a splash of sherry but that's mainly because of my propensity to add booze to almost any recipe.

However, now I'd like to return to my initial point: the soup was indeed very good, but I could taste the woodiness of the carrots. If I had uses (or been able to find) fresh younger carrots, this soup would be infinitely better. I look forward to making it again later this year.

Tasty Factor: B+ Ease of Preparation: B+ (had to use a blender, that gets messy) Modifications: None


*I had planned to bring my immersion blender with me but forgot at the last minute. I mean, it was much lighter than The Silver Spoon! I had also debated bringing a flask of marsala wine. It was a very strange packing experience.