Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup -- My Favorite

I love this soup.  It is based on this Cooking Light recipe I found two years ago.  I say based on it because I only guesstimate the measurements and it always turns out great.

The three main ingredients are:  Carrots, sweet potatoes, onion.
The secret ingredient is:  ginger.
And it has special super powers:
1.  It can survive just fine for a few hours without refrigeration (read:  sit on my desk til lunch);
2.  Awesome way to get my veggies rather than a side of broccoli;
3.  It's a puree so it can travel well (see # 1, to the office without seeping out);
4.  Freezes well.

All veggies from Del Ray and Old Town farmers' markets except small onions which are organic from Trader Joe's.

These are the enormous carrots from Lopez Farms at the Old Town farmers' market.  I asked a nice fellow shopper to model the monster carrot for me. Amazingly sweet for being so large.  Probably because they are organic and fresh out of the ground a few miles from where I bought them.

One carrot, chopped, weighed 13 ounces!  (My million year old scale is on the left.)

Two sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped into big chunks. (BOWL: Blue and white dragon design purchased in my favorite supply store in DC's Chinatown.)

Toss potatoes (peeled and chopped), onion (one medium or a few small  ones) and carrots (1/2 - 1 pound, washed, but no need to peel if they are organic) with a few drizzles of olive oil to coat. 13x9" in baking dish (any size is fine, so is a cookie sheet, or in tin foil on the grill).

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Roast for 30-45 minutes.  Toss once at 15-20 minutes (these are just going in the oven).

Perfect!  Just out of the oven, browning around the edges, olive oil prevents everything from drying out.  House smells awesome.

Add four cups of low sodium chicken or veggie stock. More or less by half a cup depending on whether you use more or less vegetables.

I love this stuff.  I grew up on Wyler's bouillon, could eat it straight (Gross, I know, but I used to make a salt pile and dunk my fries in it, too, when I was a kid). While I don't always have my own broth on hand (not much room for it in the tiny kitchen), I always have some of this stuff on hand. USDA organic and it is the perfect way to stock stock in a minuscule kitchen.  I use 1/2-3/4 teaspoon per cup of water.

Fresh ginger made easy. 

Everybody in da pot.  Bring to a boil.

Turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

I've done this step in a blender, in batches, many times. It works for sure, and is totally worth it. I just started making soups often enough in the tiny kitchen that I invested in a nice stick blender. I love concocting soups, and especially in the tiny kitchen, the immersion blender saves my space, time and mess.  It took about 90 seconds.

 

Perfection!

Back on the stove* for serving and measuring out for freezing.
* Our incredibly well laid out tiny kitchen does not have an outlet on the stove side, so I put the pot on a trivet on the opposite counter, blend it (very fun) and then move it back to the stove top.

Yours, in soup joy,

Julia

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