Fall Cooking

So as you can see from my sister-in-law's recent post, spring is certainly coming to the northern half of our green earth. However, for those of us down south here, the seasons are changing, but summer warmth is certainly not on the horizon. Rather the colors are changing, the leaves are starting to blow around, and you certainly want to have a sweater handy for most of the day. Inspired by this chillier turn in the weather, after we got home from camp the other night I decided to make soup for my friends and I. They all considered it quite tasty so I thought I'd share the recipe with you here.

Carrot Harvest Soup

• 2-3 Large Carrot, Peeled and Chopped Small
• 1 Med. Potato, Peeled and Cubed
• 1 Med. White Onion, Chopped
• 1 Med. White Kumara (or a white sweet potato - it will have a purple-ish skin), peeled and chopped
•  1-2 Green Onions, chopped
• Chicken Broth (or herb broth)
• Cream, Heavy or Whipping Cream
• Cinnamon
• Paprika, smoked
• Ground Cloves
• Salt and Pepper

1. In a large saucepan, brown the onions in butter or oil.
2. Remove onions, and lightly brown carrots (will turn a more vibrant orange, the sugars of the vegetable will be caramelized and hence the brighter color)
3. Mix in potato, kumara, and onion. Add enough broth to just cover all ingredients. Add in about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, salt, pepper, paprika and 1/4 tsp of cloves. Simmer till all are soft.
4. Once all the vegetables are soft, strain (save liquid) and blend together to smooth puree. You may need to use some of the saved liquid to make the puree smooth enough.
5. Place puree back into saucepan, add enough cream till soup is thin enough to pour, but not too liquidy. (the amount that you'll need to add will change depending on how much of the liquid you needed for your puree, the starch in your potato, etc)
6. Taste and re-season as necessary. Heat till slow boil.
7. Serve in bowls, garnish with green onion and more paprika.
8. Enjoy!

Just a few more ideas of ways to change this up;

• Great soup for toast, especially for a really thick heavy bread - good to scoop up the soup with :)
• If you don't mind spicy food, this would be a good soup to add a little chili powder, cayenne pepper, and cloves to. I probably would've added it to mine except my friends don't like spicy food.
• A hint; this soup does take a lot of salt for the herb flavors and flavors of the carrot to come out. Don't worry too much about this - carrot is a very sweet vegetable and can stand up to a lot.
• If you warm up the soup the next day (if you have any left-overs) - you may need to add cream/milk again to thin it out to the right consistency.