Life-Saving Carrot Coriander Soup

Life can be such an asshole. This weekend I met the Mayor of a local municipality and had the opportunity to discuss local food initiatives with him. I was on; making strong, valid points, and carrying myself with grace, style and professionalism.  I left the encounter with my head held high. That was until I jumped into my truck, positioned the rear-view mirror and noticed the giant piece of pumpernickel gripping to my front teeth.

Then Monday morning began as many do, with kids screaming and client emails quickly piling up. Without warning, Edie, 4, stopped us all in our tracks by vomiting her Cheerios across the table.  Like that, in a matter of seconds, a busy work week becomes a nightmarish one – with the added joy of vomit.

These are the days that I need to prepare a home cooked meal.  It’s not a matter of “finding the time”, it’s about taking the time to reclaim power from the universe. No matter how frustrating and painfully out of control the rest of the day seems to spiral, when you add local carrots to a boiling pot of organic stock, a dash of this and a pinch of that, good things tend to happen. I want to live in my kitchen, life here is much simpler than the outside world.

This is not just a homemade carrot soup, this is a life-saver.

Carrot and Coriander Soup
Inspired by the brilliant Jamie Oliver
Make about 4 servings

I just wanted a dash of pepper before photographing my dinner. The lid of the pepper fell off, pepper spilled out and it turned out the battery in my camera was dead anyhow. Please enjoy this pepper-drenched cell phone snapshot. Sigh.

Ingredients:

• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1lb carrots, washed and chopped into 1/2″ thick wheels
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 3tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• squeeze of lemon juice
• freshly grated nutmeg to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions, carrots and garlic, sauté for 4mins, until they are beginning to soften but not colour. Stir in the ground coriander and plenty of seasoning and cook for 1min.
2. Add the stock and bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20mins or until the carrots are really tender. Stir in the fresh coriander.
3. Whizz the soup with an emulsion blender or transfer to a food processor. Add the lemon juice and nutmeg to taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Reheat until just hot but not boiling and serve. Garnish with a swirl of cream, plain yogurt or creme fraiche if you’d like.

I hope your week is being far more kind to you than mine, and that you enjoy this healthy, delicious, easy soup. Now, just get me to Friday and have a bottle of red corked and ready.

Enjoy! xo

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