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Make sure you have plenty of French bread to serve in a bread basket . menu Carrot soup with local garnishes

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Carrot soup with local garnishes

Serves : 4 Cooked : on the hob

Preparation time : 20 minutes Cooking time : 40 minutes week one dietary requirements :

vegetarian : OK

vegan : NO , remove a portion before adding the cream ( the crème fraiche and beaufort garnishes are not suitable )

dairy free : NO , remove a portion before adding the cream ( the crème fraiche and beaufort garnishes are not suitable )

nut free : OK

gluten free : OK ( the croutons are not suitable )

300g carrots , peeled and roughly 1 litre water chopped

2 tablespoons cream 1 potato approx 150g , peeled and 4 small sprig of parsley roughly chopped

½ onion peeled and chopped for the garnishes :

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 4 tablespoons crème fraiche

25g butter garlic and herb olive oil

1 teaspoon tomato purée french bread for croutons pinch sugar beaufort cheese

1 vegetable stock cube

1 . Put the onions , oil and butter into a saucepan , add 1 tablespoon of water and cover with a tight fitting lid . Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the onions are soft and very sweet ( this is what will make your soup sweet and delicious so do not cut this part out and wait until the onions are soft before moving to next stage ). 2 . Add all the rest of the ingredients ( except the parsley ) and cook for 30 minutes or until the carrots are really tender ( you must be able to squash them with the back of a spoon ) if you can ’ t then your soup will never be velvety smooth no matter how much you blend it ! 3 . Once the carrots are soft blend the soup until smooth . Adjust seasoning and this is then ready to re-heat . 4 . To make the croutons , cube 4 slices of stale french bread , drizzle with olive oil and bake at 180C for 5-10 minutes , sprinkle with salt whilst still warm . For the garlic and herb oil , blend 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs or dried chives and 1 clove of garlic garlic with 4 tablspoons of oil using a hand blender .

To serve : warm the soup through before serving and serve in warmed soup bowls with a sprig of parsley as a little gesture of garnish .

For the garnishes : on a plate , tray or board ( one between four people ) serve the crème fraiche , garlic and herb olive oil , warm croutons and grated Beaufort cheese .

notes

This soup is the most basic of carrot soup – why ? Because we are offering it with a host of garnishes local to your area so that the guests can choose , add any garnish they wish ( this will be a talking point ) an ice breaker for the first night and a bit of fun , so helping a bowl of soup become something much more than that .