Carrot Soup

Last night I made Carrot Soup. It is a recipe I got from Dad and have always really liked, but I knew I could Love it... So, tonight I improved it!

For starters, I used the chicken broth that I made from scratch {when I was making the Chicken Noodle Soup}. When making this recipe I always add white wine to the total amount of broth called for... this time I used a bit more.

I have always heard terms like "Cooking Wine" or heard people say something along the lines of, "If you're not going to drink it (because you don't like it), just use in your cooking." Don't Do This!!

If you don't want to drink it out of a glass, why would you want to eat it with a spoon?

As the old saying goes "I love cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking."

After simmering the soup for about a half hour, I transferred it, in batches, to my food processor. This is where I changed the cooking technique a bit. The original soup recipe would blend the soup and continue on to add the remaining ingredients. I always found the texture a bit too "gritty" and I wanted to smooth the soup out and bring it to its full potential. So I pushed the soup through a sieve.

Then I added the remaining ingredients and let the soup sit, so that the flavors could marry. My Dad suggested putting Cayenne Pepper in. It was definitely a good tip! It gave it a small amount of heat and brought out the soups flavors without hindering the overall taste. A+.

While the soup married together, I cut a loaf of italian bread into cubes and made homemade croutons. I don't think I've bought store bought croutons for years! They are so simple to make and you can personalize them every time to contain the flavors you desire.

This soup is typically topped with toasted sesame seeds, chopped chives, homemade croutons & sour cream. But I replaced the sour cream with Greek Yogurt. The Greek Yogurt brought a zing! to the silky, smooth, rich carrot soup. Pushing the soup through the sieve made a world of difference!

Perfection. 

Now this is my kind of soup.