Potage Crecy (Carrot Soup)

This one was was sort of backwards, I wanted carrot soup. And from there looked to see if any country had adopted it to see if I could post it here. It turns out the French like their carrot soup. So it's French food again. I saw lots of recipes that looked delicious with such a multitude of seasonings and styles. And they all looked delicious. However, one thing from my observation of French food is that while typically very well executed, and very fastidious, they use basic ingredient to wonderful effect. 

This soup for example. It tastes like carrots, only better. I added a potato for body and because I liked the velvety texture of the vichyssoise I made a few weeks ago. It's the thing that next time I think I will leave out. The carrots added enough body. 

The other element that made this really delicious was the leftover homemade chicken stock I used. The flavor of roasted chicken as a background to the carrots was very nice. The carrot flavor however was still dominant, as it should be. I think if I was using my typical bouillon I would roast the carrots and then simmer in the liquid before pureeing.

This one doesn't really get a full recipe, rather a list of ingredients. I was throwing stuff in the pot, it's a soup, precision isn't important here. I did switch to a smaller pot from the one shown above to the liquid would cover the vegetables better. Doubling or tripling is also encourage as this was a small batch.


Carrot Soup
Chicken stock, I had about 2 cups worth
3 large carrots, roughly chopped
1/2 onion
1/2 stalk celery
3 Tbsp heavy cream, or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer the stock, carrots, onion, and celery until the carrots are tender. Leave the onion and celery whole so they can be removed later. 

About halfway through cooking add the heavy cream. 

When the carrots are very tender, remove the onion and celery. Puree all until really smooth. This step was really fun to watch the soup get slightly orange, and then a little more orange. It will look like it's done, but keep going until it's bright orange. 

Serve immediately, though I suspect this would be good as a cold soup too. 

Garnish as desired.