One of my childhood joys was smelling the familiar aromas of my mom preparing one of her famous soups. My mom had a knack for transforming vegetables into warm velvety bowls of goodness. Carrot, pumpkin, cucumber; whatever the vegetable we would all lick our bowls clean and ask for seconds.

I often times got to be her helper, dicing the vegetables and processing them in batches in our mini food processor. Fascinated by the magic of transforming the liquid into a puree, inevitably overflowing the blender and losing a bowl of soup in the process. Whenever she asked if I wanted to help her in the kitchen my reply was always yes. Little did I know those many afternoons spent in the kitchen with my mom would permanently etch these recipes on my brain.

Now that she’s gone, there is no greater comfort than the first familiar sip, warming me from mouth to heart. I realize that through her wonderful gift of food, she will always be right there cooking beside me.

Carrot Soup
Source: Mom 🙂

Ingredients

• 1 lb carrots (about 4 medium), peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 quart (32 oz.) low-sodium chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. canola butter/butter
• 1/2 cup half and half
• salt & pepper, to taste
• nutmeg, a pinch
• allspice, a pinch

Instructions

1. Chop onion, celery, & tomato into a uniform dice and add to soup pot along with the carrots.
2. Add a tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Saute the mirepoix until the liquid from the vegetables has absorbed and the carrots are tender. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Incorporate one teaspoon of sugar before lowering the heat and carefully adding in the chicken stock. Simmer for twenty minutes.
4. After the twenty minutes have elapsed, taste the broth mixture and season to taste.
5. Before blending, add in desired amount of half & half. Using an immersion blender, food processor or blender, process the soup ensuring any vegetable lumps have been removed and the soup mixture has been blended to a smooth puree.
6. Season the puree with a pinch of nutmeg and allspice and serve.

Notes:

My mom’s original recipe did not include tomato, but we had one lying around from our garden, so I decided to it throw it in. I found that it added more depth of flavor and did not need as much seasoning, but feel free to omit.

I have made this with half & half, light cream and heavy cream. All are delicious and can be used according to what you have on hand.

This makes enough to comfortably feed a family of 4 with 1+ bowls each, if cooking for a crowd or you want leftovers I would double the recipe.