Carrot and Leek soup

By jbaird

Ingredients

• Carrot Leek Soup with Fresh Thyme
• 2 C. chopped leeks (about 1 med. leek)
• 4 C. chopped carrots (about 7 med. carrots)
• 2 C. chopped, peeled yams (about 1 large yam)
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 5 C. water
• 2 heaping Tbs. minced fresh thyme leaves (strip the leaves off the stem, then mince them)
• salt and black pepper

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

I have searched for a vegetable bullion, stock or broth that I like that doesn’t have a ton of hydrogenated oils and MSG, to no avail. As a gourmet foodie, I sheepishly admit that I’ve also never made my own veggie stock. So, I just use lots of aromatic veggies and herbs, and water. I leave the choice up to you, but for ease of writing, in the recipe I just write “water”.

One of the keys to making this soup more flavorful, is to sauté the carrots and leeks. If you just drop it all in the water without the caramelization in the beginning, you end up with something more like carrot juice. Fine for what it is, but it’s not good soup. You can also change the flavors a bit and use fresh ginger and some coconut milk in place of some of the water for an Asian twist. The thyme is just a more classic Thanksgiving herb.

Boil water in kettle (saves you about 5 minutes of waiting for the soup to come to temperature later).
Sauté leeks and carrots about 10 minutes, until they are both a bit caramelized and the leeks are reduced in size.
Add the hot water, yams, celery, salt and pepper, and simmer about 20 minutes. About halfway through, add half of the thyme. When the carrots and yams are soft, turn off the heat and add the rest of the fresh thyme. Because I don’t like transferring burning hot liquids into and out of the blender, I use a stick blender. Very convenient, and no one gets hurt in the process. Just be sure to fully immerse the stick blender, otherwise you’ll have an orange kitchen. Finish with some freshly ground black pepper. This recipe serves about 4-6 appetizer portions.