Kristina's Carrot Soup

With thanks to Kristina for kindly letting me use her recipe. She didn’t let it go easily! She’s inventive in the kitchen, like her grandmother, and when I had to wave farewell to the potatoes in my soups, she changed to brown rice. It acts as a thickener and ‘rounds’ the flavour off, too. She often brings down a jug of soup for our lunch, so this is the first time I’ve actually made it.

I had a dishful of carrot thinnings out of the garden, some the size of baby carrots and some even smaller, and my first thought was ‘carrot soup!’ Although I was supposed to chop them before cooking, these were so small that I could fry them whole (as cooking them whole is the healthiest way to cook them), after topping and tailing. I just washed them and popped them into the hot olive oil, together with the onion.



Aleksander enjoying nanny's carrot soup!


Kristina’s Carrot Soup

1 onion
8 medium carrots (or the equivalent in different sizes)
1 litre/2 pints of vegetable stock, gluten free
3 tbsp brown rice

Fry chopped onions and carrots gently in olive oil or butter (I used olive oil) for 15 minutes, in a saucepan, rather than frying pan, then add stock and rinsed, brown rice. Simmer for 25 minutes, then cool a little before blending. I use a stick blender in small bursts. Add seasoning as required. We had ours fairly ‘mild’ at lunch time, but I added curry powder, chili powder, a little garlic pure and tomato pure to my other half’s portion – and it was delicious (I had to taste it).
Serve as it is, with toasted gluten free bread on the side, or garnish with a little coriander or a swirl of single cream.

Tip: Don’t mix Imperial and Metric measures like I did. I initially added a pint of water, instead of a litre, and had to add more at the end!