The Bright Side

A creamy carrot soup has been on my short list of things to make before the weather warms up, and I finally got to it last night. I was inspired by Terry B’s gorgeous Potage Crécy, but I pared my version down even more, to just butter, leeks, carrots, homemade chicken stock, salt, savory, and a healthy dollop of dijon mustard. I sauteed the leeks in butter until soft, crumbled the leaves from a sprig of savory we had dried at home over the leeks, added about three cups of roughly chopped carrots, a quart or so of stock and the mustard, seasoned everything with salt, and let the soup come to a boil. I covered the pot and let it simmer until the carrots were soft, then pureed the whole thing with a stick blender. I adjusted the seasoning, and though it would have been fine without, I did add just a drizzle of heavy cream at the end, as well as a garnish of fresh chives. This soup was dead easy and really delicious, and I loved how the sharp dijon played against the sweetness of the carrots – it’s definitely a recipe I’ll return to to brighten the dark days of next Winter.