carrot bisque

If you’re like me and this cold weather literally chills you to the bones, there’s nothing better than a warm bowl of soup. I went for a carrot bisque because Dad’s love of buying bulk at Costco made him go a little crazy with his carrot purchase. So the carrots I was gifted, plus the two bags I already had in my fridge had me thinking I needed to do something to use them up.

I typically keep carrots on hand because I like to shred them for salads, and also like to made noodles out of them. One of my favorite, simple recipes using carrots is for “Carrot Linguine”, you can find the recipe at this link, to one of my previous posts.

This recipe is simple and will keep well in the fridge for at least a week. You might have a little separation, but that can be remedied with a quick stir.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of salted butter
• 10 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic (The store bought kind in a jar is a big time saver)
• 3 cups water
• 1 box of Organic vegetable broth
• 1 cup coconut milk (The kind in the dairy section along with the regular milk, and milk alternatives. . .not the kind you buy in a can for cooking).
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp Tumeric
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger (I didn’t have any fresh ginger on hand, so if you do I’d include it!)

1. Saute onions in butter in a soup pot until they begin to caramelize.
2. Add carrots and sweet potato. Saute for 5-8 minutes.
3. Add garlic and other spices. Stir.
4. Add water and vegetable broth. Put lid on the pot and let simmer for about 30 minutes. (This will help flavor the broth and infuse it with all that veggie and garlicky goodness).
5. Turn heat off.
6. Add heavy cream and coconut milk.
7. With a hand blender, blend soup until smooth in pot.
8. Let cool and serve.

I topped mine with a bit of olive oil, balsamic reduction, sour cream, Chia seeds and a dash of chili powder.

I don’t know why but when I eat soup by itself, I kind of feel like it’s a boring meal. . .so I jazz it up with some garnishes and make it fancy. Plus, I love balsamic on literally anything.

If you’re watching your calories, you can absolutely leave the butter and heavy cream out. Substitute olive oil for butter when sauteing and you can either double the coconut milk or even use regular or almond milk. Or heck, leave it out all together. I just like to use butter and cream to give it that rich, creamy, bisque- consistency. Also, just a side note about this soup- it’s a garlic bomb! That’s ok with me because I love garlic and use it to flavor everything, but if you’re worried about getting the stank, or just don’t like garlic, cut the amount down!

I hope this creamy concoction helps keep you warm this winter too, enjoy!

xo Kelli