Now that I’ve decided to blog, I also want to use it as a tool to save and share some of my favorite recipes. The year I studied at the Culinary Institute of America and opened the Rustic Kitchen cooking school, I started a tradition of sending a recipe with my Christmas cards. It was a way to talk about a highlight from my year without going into long arduous details of those holiday letters that sometimes make us cringe.
This is the dish I created for the class about vegetarian flavors. To make it look more cheflike I dotted it with cilantro-infused oil and hot pepper sauce to make a fun polka-dotted soup.
Carrot Coriander Soup
This vibrant soup is elegantly simple to make but packs a big flavor punch: sauteing the carrots brings out their natural sweetness while the coriander lends a refreshing touch. The starch in the potato provides the thick texture without adding cream. Your guests will never guess it’s so low in fat.
Makes about six cups
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound carrots (about 6), cleaned and halved
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon coriander seed, crushed in a mortar and pestle
4 cups vegetable broth
Salt and white pepper to taste
In large saucepan over medium high heat, saute onion and carrots in olive oil until golden brown to bring out the sweet flavors. Add potato and vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Cook until carrots and potato can be pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. Add coriander, transfer to blender and puree until very smooth adding more vegetable broth to reach the desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.
Recipe and photo from Janine MacLachlan, The Rustic Kitchen, www. RusticKitchen.com. All rights reserved. Get more tasty info by signing my newsletter, or my feed And let’s tweet together, shall we?
