Chilled Carrot Soup

There’s a farmer’s market in the nearby park that we’d been hearing about since we moved to St. Louis. I finally made my way over there this week, and I found some lovely carrots. (And blueberries, but they didn’t last long enough to end up in a dish.) I thought I’d do some experimenting with a chilled summer soup.

Chilled Carrot Soup

• 2 pounds carrots, washed and cut into rounds
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and cut into rounds
• 2 cups water
• pinch of crushed red pepper
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• lemon wedges, for garnish

1. Heat the carrots, ginger, water, crushed red pepper, a large pinch of salt and pepper in a medium-large pot. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer until the carrots are tender, about 30 minutes, then remove from heat.
2. Carefully pour soup into a blender. Add the lemon juice. Remove the middle piece from the lid and cover with a towel to allow steam to escape while blending. Puree until smooth. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender.)
3. Put soup in the refrigerator and allow to cool completely. (If you need to cool the soup immediately, place soup in a metal bowl, and place the bowl in an ice bath. Stir until soup is completely chilled.)
4. When ready to serve, spoon soup into bowls, garnish with lemon wedges.

Serves 4

When I originally wrote this recipe, I included some onion. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t thrilled with it. Until I tried it the next day, then I liked it more. Still, I wanted to try it again without the onion. I made another batch and tried them both side-by-side. Initially, I felt without the onion was better. But then again, maybe not. I finally decided I like it without the onion a smidge more. Hence the recipe is written without onion. If you really love your aromatics, start by cooking some onion until soft, then continuing with the rest of the recipe.

I also went back and forth on how “carroty” I wanted it to be. I was using fresh farmer’s market carrots, and I wanted to taste them. But I think keeping extra lemon wedges or lemon juice on hand so everyone can season to their liking is a good idea.

This recipe is also shared in Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Wellness Weekend.