Carrot Apple Soup

This recipe and photos were provided by Sally Roeckell of Table and Dish and were originally published at 365Barrington.com as a part of the Heinen’s 4 P.M. Panic Series. 

Fruit soup, who knew? Carrot apple soup is warm, smooth, sweet, savory and comforting.

During the ’70s, when canned soup and T.V. dinners became the rage, my sweet mother managed to avoid the trend and see to it that we ate real, homemade food. She canned, froze, pickled, and preserved anything she could get at the farmers market.  In the hay day of Twinkies and Spaghetti-o’s, we had homemade fruit leather, hand-stuffed sausages, and freshly made pasta.  My mother’s boundless energy has kept her going with a passion for good food that she still serves in her restaurant at age 71.

My kids have grown up with the same appreciation for good foods. It’s simple, thanks to Heinen’s. They still love junk and what teen doesn’t? I’m just trying to be sure they have a healthy balance of the good stuff. This week for 4PM Panic I found these beautiful tri-colored carrots. Next to them on the rack were parsnips.  Oddly enough, I don’t think, with all my years of good foods, that I have ever intentionally eaten a parsnip. So into the cart, it went.  With the arrival of chilly evenings, I decided that soup sounded like a good use for these colorful veggies. As I was chopping everything, the parsnips had a fresh clean springy scent that brightened my kitchen.

Here’s how it all came together…

This is for my friend Joanne who, when I told her about this, said,  “oh that sounds good, what recipe did you use?” “None” I replied, “I just threw it together and hoped for the best.”  To this, she wrinkled her nose and said sweetly, “oh ya, you’re one of ‘those people.’”

So here you go…the recipe.

Carrot Apple Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch of rainbow carrots and 1 bunch of orange carrots all cut into one-inch chunks.
• 2 large parsnips
• 5 small apples cut in half
• about 5 cloves of garlic
• 4-6 cups of chicken or veggie stock
• good olive oil
• Kosher salt
• fresh pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Crème fraîche or sour cream to garnish

Method:

• Place the first 4 ingredients on a baking sheet and toss with a drizzle of olive oil, allspice, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
• Roast uncovered in a 400° oven until fork tender and slightly caramelized on the edges. When vegetables get that slight burn the natural sugars intensify and taste great.
• Once cooked, while still hot, scrape everything into a blender.
• Add the slightly warmed chicken stock. We like our soup pretty thick but you can add more stock to get the consistency you enjoy.
• Blend until everything is smooth and creamy. I use a Vitamix blender which is pretty powerful so the force actually further heats the soup.  You could also do this with a submersion blender.
• Pour into soup bowls and garnish with a tsp of Crème fraîche or sour cream.

Enjoy! And please leave me a note to let me know how yours turned out.