Carrot, Pepper and Orange Soup

The past few months have taught me that whilst having good quality kitchen equipment certainly helps, and is preferential it is by no means essential. I am currently without my beloved saucepans and have been making do with just my large Meyer sauté and two inherited, very battered, wonky handled and missing lid saucepans. And a warped frying pan! Despite this I’ve made some pretty decent dishes and they certainly have not curbed my cooking! I do frequently now have to check before attempting something that I have the item actually here and not in a friends loft somewhere but overall things have worked out in the end!

This soup was really delicious and so warming on a cold wintery night! It was also a good use of odds and ends – the half an orange was leftover from another recipe, and it really lifted the soup from good to greatness without actually tasting of orange! The gentle spicing from the cumin, ginger and ground coriander made it complete.

Carrots are without a doubt my favourite vegetable since childhood, and about the only fresh vegetable other than onions I buy repeatedly! I love their bright colour, and also the fact the market tend to do a giant tub of them for a pound which lasts me about a month! They are such a versatile ingredient and I love experimenting with them and this soup made good use of them!

A sprinkle of some fresh herbs to make it pretty would have been nice but I loathe paying for the little packets and didn’t have any pots at the time…. Though on the fresh herb front I finally last weekend got round to planting my little set of Jamie Oliver herb tins I was given last Christmas, and in a few weeks from now, crossed fingers, the windowsill be alive with Chives, purple basil and oregano!

Not the prettiest of photos but the pretty bowl I 'inherited' helps to make up for it!

Serves 2-3 and reheats well
Easy

Ingredients

4 large carrots, diced
1 orange pepper, diced (am sure yellow or red would be fine here too!)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
Pinch of ground ginger
1 knorr chicken stock pot (or veggie equivalent)
2 tsp flora cuisine or olive oil
S&p to taste
Hot water to cover

Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until softened without colouring too much.

Add the pepper and fry for a further two minutes, stir in the carrot, spices and the stock cube/ pot, cover with boiling water by just under 1cm, cover with something suitable (a lid would be perfect here!) bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 25 minutes. 

Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser, season with salt and pepper to taste.