One-Pan Carrot Soup

When I tasted the hearty One-Pan Carrot Soup my wife made a while back, I knew the next time she made it I’d have to post the recipe here to share with the world.

As with practically any of her cooking, my responsibilities for posting the carrot soup are mainly following her around with a camera for photos and a clip-board and pen for putting the method into words. (My wife is a great instinctual cook who rarely uses recipes, particularly when making soup.) One of the hardest parts is documenting the quantities of ingredients, since she’s not big on measuring. For example, the recipe below includes what I’m calling 3 tablespoons of dried dill, which is actually my translation of what she called, “two palms full.” (My version does consider a correction factor for petite palms.)

Aside from faithfully documenting the process, my only contributions to this recipe were the grated parmesan topping and the beer batter rolls on the side.

(If you like this soup, you can check out another of her nothing-written-down recipes for Creamy Broccoli Soup.)

And now, here it is, One-Pan Carrot Soup, for your cooking and eating pleasure. This recipe makes four meal-size servings.

Put 1/8” water and 1 Tbsp butter substitute in a large skillet. Heat until the butter substitute melts.

Add 2-1/2 pounds of peeled whole carrots to the skillet and cover. Simmer until the water has evaporated to steam the carrots.

When the carrots are steamed and some are slightly caramelized, take them out of the skillet and set them aside.

In the same skillet, add 2 – 3 Tbsp olive oil, 2 rough-chopped onions and 3 rough-chopped stalks of celery. Cook uncovered until the onions are translucent.

Pushing the onions and celery to one side of the pan, put 2-3 Tbsp butter substitute and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour on the other side. Mix the butter substitute and flour to form a roux. When it has cooked for about 1 minute, combine the roux with the onions and celery and add 1 cup of skim milk. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened.

Add the carrots to the skillet and mash them with a potato masher. (It’s ok if some of the carrots remain chunky; the mixture will eventually be pureed.)

Add 3 Tbsp dried dill, 6 regular or 3 large bouillon cubes, and 4 cups of water. (The bouillon cubes should be enough to require 6 cups of water normally; this recipe only uses less water because of the other liquid ingredients involved.)

Cook the mixture until it just starts to boil, then turn off the heat and puree with an immersion blender.

The texture should be a thick liquid with some small chunks.

Serve the soup in bowls with some good bread and topped with fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Click HERE to download a cookbook-style copy of the recipe in .pdf format

Hope you enjoy this easy, delicious (and low-fat!) soup! And that you’ll visit again next week for another tasty recipe. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)