Cream of Carrot Soup

(The photo I took was not presentable enough to be posted.)

I am growing to like vegetable soups. I feel healthy just having a meal each week without any meat at all. Tasty vegetable soups served with bread helps to keep me away from the urge of wanting to eat meat. Especially during this time of the year when it is getting cooler, a hot soup at dinner is always welcomed and comforting :)

This recipe looked really yummy and since it was not too difficult to make, I thought I would try it. From preparation (cutting veggies, etc) to the table, including making the garlic bread, it took me about 40 mins in total.

My tweaked version of the recipe: (Serves 5)
40g butter
1 onion, peeled and roughly sliced
~680g carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks (I estimated that 6 out of 8 carrots from the 1kg bag would give me around 680g)
1 large potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 clove garlic, crushed
2.5 tsp Massel vegetable stock powder
enough water to just cover all the veggies
150ml light thickened cream
salt and pepper to taste
dried parsley

In a large saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Cook the onions, carrots, potato, and garlic in the butter for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water and stock powder and bring the soup to a boil. Turn the heat down so that the soup is just barely bubbling. Cover the pot and cook the soup for 15 minutes, until the veggies have softened. Use a fork and prick the veggies and the fork should be able to go through easily.

Remove the soup from the heat and allow it to cool just enough so you can comfortably puree it using a blender. I used my stick blender and pureed the soup in the pot. If you use a normal blender, return the soup into the pot once it is pureed. Stir in thickened cream and season with salt and pepper. This is optional but I threw in some ground cumin too. Dish the soup into bowls and garnish with dried parsley. Serve with toasted bread of your choice. (I made some garlic dinner rolls)