How to Make Carrot Soup

Last night I made a carrot soup using the carrots I pulled from my garden patch.

I started by sautéing some minced onion and ginger in olive oil in a soup pot (uncovered), stirring often to prevent the onion and ginger from browning. While that mixture cooked, I washed the carrots and chopped them into smaller pieces.

When the onions and ginger were soft (10 minutes), I added the carrots and cooked everything (covered) for another 15 minutes. I then added enough cold water to cover the vegetables by about an inch. I let the vegetables simmer (uncovered) for about 45 minutes until the carrots were very soft.

After letting the mixture cool, I used a hand-held immersion blender to purée everything until it was smooth. No carrot pieces remained. I froze the mixture and will eat it in the near future.

Answers to some questions you may have:

Why did I not want the onions and ginger to brown? The onions and ginger would have taken on too much flavor if I let them brown. For certain dishes (sausage, peppers and onions) that is fine, but in this case I didn’t want to overwhelm the sweetness of the carrots.

Why did I cover the pot after adding the carrots? My gut told me that I’d rather have the evaporating liquid and its flavor remain in the pot, rather than escaping. Also, the extra liquid and heat would help the carrots cook and sweeten before I added the cold water.

Why no salt and pepper? I will salt and pepper to taste after I defrost and heat the soup. If I had salted to taste when I had added the water, I probably would have ended up with a salty soup, since some water—but no salt—evaporated during the cooking process.