My friend Sarah said to put this recipe on Blue Cayenne. Believe me, when Sarah gets that insistent tone in her voice, Blue Cayenne listens.
I’ve been making this gorgeous (and delicious!) soup for a very long time. This recipe was adapted from one that first appeared in Gourmet Magazine in 1977. I’ve added a few extra carrots over the years. 1977! That’s forty-one years ago. Whoa!
In the great scheme of things, forty-one years is a drop in the bucket soup pot. Research done by John Speth, Emeritus Anthropology Professor at The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), points to evidence that soup first became a part of the human diet at least twenty-five thousand years ago. That’s a real whoa!
Speth believes that early man dug holes in the ground, lined them with animal skins, filled these “pots” with liquids and other ingredients, and cooked the whole thing by dropping in hot rocks. It was the earliest incarnation of the Instant Pot, I guess. Later, heat-proof pottery vessels were used.
The word “soup” is a product of more modern European times, evolving as it did from the practice of using a piece of bread to sop up broths and stews–the word sop became soup. Bread was a necessary accoutrement since soup was typically served on the same plate with other foods. At other times, soup was served in a common bowl that was passed around for a common slurp. (Let’s not spend too much time pondering the hygienic ramifications of that practice. Yuck.)
Sixteenth and seventeenth century fashion also impacted soup history. When fashionistas began wearing stiff collars called ruffs, drinking soup out of a bowl (or off a plate) became an even more messy proposition and the soup spoon came into common usage. Spoons weren’t exactly new; they had been around since Pharaonic times, but their use had been primarily ceremonial– a symbol of wealth and power. In the beginning, spoons were a class thing in Europe, too, with the elites using silver spoons or utensils crafted from other valuable materials. Later, cheap spoons for the masses– made out of cow horns, wood, brass and pewter– were adopted. Interestingly, it was common to travel with one’s own utensils.
At about the same time, the practice of selling restorative concentrations of liquid (soups) caught the public’s fancy. Soup was now seen as a health food. It restored flagging energy and the public places where one ate soup were called restaurants. A little later, in the 1800s, so-called “pocket soups” were popularized. Pocket soups were dehydrated soups that could be easily carried and reconstituted.
More recently, soup became the easy-to-prepare everyman’s food when Campbell’s introduced unrefrigerated condensed soups in the late 19th century followed by the introduction of a seemingly-endless number of soup varieties. (Minestrone with Kale anyone?)
It was probably inevitable that a creative would eventually come along to chronicle the ubiquitous role soup had played in western society. Enter Andy Warhol with his pop-art homages to Campbell’s soups.
But let’s get back to the present and our recipe for Cream of Carrot Soup Chez Claude.
This velvet-smooth gourmet soup has stood the test of time in my kitchen. Best served the day after it is made when the flavors have had a chance to bloom, this soup is good enough to serve to guests but it is also a great self-indulgent way to wind down after a tough day.
If you do serve it to guests, be sure everyone checks their ruffs at the door. Carrot soup stains are the worst!
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 Large potatoes (peeled)
- 2 Leeks (white parts only, sliced)
- 2 Stalks celery (chopped)
- 1 Onion (chopped)
- 3-4 Large carrots (chopped)
- 1 Green bell pepper (chopped)
- 8 Cups vegetable broth
- 1/2-1 C. heavy cream
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Additional cream for garnish and/or minced parsley
Instructions
- Prepare vegetables, put them in a large soup pot and sweat them over a moderately low heat for 8 minutes covered with a piece of buttered wax paper and a lid.
- Add 8 cups of mild vegetable broth. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer the soup over a low heat for 30 to 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Cool the soup a bit and then puree. Add cream to your taste. Garnish with additional cream and/or minced parsley. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
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