Creamy Dreamy Carrot Soup

It’s fall again, again.  If you don’t remember about a month ago in San Diego we had a cold snap and I thought fall was here to stay.  Well, I thought wrong.  Just a week ago we had another scorcher of a day; people even went to the beach!?!

Here we are now, the temperatures have dropped and the rain has fallen over our great city.  I’m hoping this means fall is really here to stay this time, like really stay.

All this chilly weather got me in the mood to cook something warm and comforting.  I was staring at my refrigerator trying to figure out what I could make and noticed I had some organic carrots left from my imperfect produce haul.  When I see carrots in fall my first thought goes to soup.  I have a basic soup recipe that I change up depending on what the weather is doing and this version is perfect for a cold rainy SD night.  It’s so versatile so feel free to change up the herbs and spices to make it your own.

Ingredients:

2 lb of organic carrots

1/2 large onion diced

1 red bell pepper (optional but gives a nice flavor)

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of dried parsley

1/2 to 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 cup of veggie or chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan on medium high heat (I used one of my Le Cruset since it’s deep but not like a spaghetti pot deep) and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil once hot.  Sauté the onions and bell peppers until translucent and soft.  Add the carrots and continue sautéing for about 5-7 minutes.  Season with spices, salt and pepper. Let cool slightly and use an immersion blender or pour into a blender and puree to get a medium consistency.  Top with some cream fraiche or sour cream and herbs (any do, but I went with parsley).  Serve it as the first course of dinner or pair it with a crusty sourdough loaf to make it a light meal.  

Wine to pair?

Oh what to pair what to pair.  The carrots have some sweetness to them and the cream gives the dish some richness so I’m going with both a red and white.  I’d stick with red when the soup is part of a dinner meal since the weather has turned cold.  However I would pair it with a white wine if you’re serving this for lunch.  For the red I’d go with a Chianti and for white something that has mineral characteristics, like a white burgundy (French Chardonnay).  So cheers to fall, fall like weather, and warm comfy soup!