Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Carrot Soup with Rosemary Apple Bread




Yet another reason to love Autumn...the return of soup! Unless it's served cold, not much soup gets eaten around here during the summer month's. So I always look forward to cooler temps because I enjoy making soup, all kinds, almost as much as I enjoy eating them. The pot of goodness gently simmering on the stove. The whole house scented with the smell of its promise of warmth and comfort. It's like curling up in a warm blanket.
In the last week or so we've had temps that dropped into the 40's at night and I started craving a good bowl of soup. Carrot soup has long been a favorite of mine. As with most soups, carrot soup is open to your interpretation. A variety of herbs and spice can be used to flavor carrot soup. Use you imagination. This is my favorite way to make carrot soup. The secret to this soup is the apple, it lends a wonderful hint of sweetness to the carrots. This soup is wonderful the day you make it but even better a day or two later. It holds up to a week when kept refrigerated, so make a little extra!
Looking back at my past few posts, I guess you could say I've been on a bit of an apple roll! I've had a plethora of apples as of late and have been looking for ways to use them all. I came across this recipe for rosemary apple bread and thought it would be the perfect companion to my carrot soup. They were so good together, I decided to post both the recipes. This bread delicious, the hint of rosemary is wonderful with the apples. Don't be scared away because it's a yeast dough. You won't believe how simple it is to make, it's almost disaster proof.

Carrot Soup


Ingredients 

1Tbl. butter
1 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
1onion, peeled and chopped
1sm clove garlic chopped
1 small green apple, peeled and chopped
1 small russet or other starchy potato, peeled and chopped
1 1/4 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp ground coriander
6 cups water
dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup (or more if you want it richer),whipping cream
Salt and pepper

Directions

In a 6-quart pan, over medium high heat, add butter, garlic and onions sprinkle with a little salt and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft. Add water, carrots, apple, potato coriander and ginger (I add a little salt and pepper here too. This helps you to achieve great layers of flavor). Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced 20- 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a blender or using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.  Be careful when blending hot liquids as the mixture can spurt out of the blender. Return to the pan and add cream, stir over high heat until hot. Add salt and pepper and nutmeg, to taste.

( Print Recipe)





Rosemary Apple Bread 

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 package quick-rise yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
1 cup diced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 small)
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons butter, melted

Preparation

Combine 2 3/4 cups flour, salt, rosemary, and yeast in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add water, stirring until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands. Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Knead in apple. Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°.

Shape dough into a loaf; place dough in an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Gently press dough into pan; cover. Let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Brush top with butter. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. source: Cooking Light, Nov. 2003

21 comments:

Eliana said...

What a divine combination.

Melissa Peterman said...

Hello Paula,
We've selected you as our Foodista Food Blog of the Day for Tuesday, October 13th! Your blog for Carrot Soup with Rosemary Apple Bread will be featured on the Foodista homepage for 24 hours. This is a new feature that we recently launched and are thrilled to post your blog.
Since you are now a part of the Foodista Featured Blogger of The Day Community, we've created a special badge for you to display proudly on your blog sidebar. I couldn't find your email on your blog to send you the access code for the special badge, but I want to make sure you get it if you are interested. Please send me an email and I'll send it right away.
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LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Such a comforting bowl of soup & bread!

Maria said...

The perfect fall meal!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

At this time of the year carrots are so good. That must be yummy.

Anonymous said...

mmm. carrot soup. reminds me of the one at swensens! my favourite soup of the day. i can imagine dipping that bread into some of that hearty soup!

Karine said...

Both recipes sound delicious! And your soup look so delicate too! :)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

A nice warming bowl of soup and freshly baked bread would give us every reason to enjoy and even anticipate fall!!!

grace said...

BRAVO! first of all, the hue of that soup is gorgeous, and i love that carrots, apples, AND taters are involved. and that bread--what a stunning loaf. the texture is completely perfect, and i just love the aroma of rosemary.

Kelly @ EvilShenanigans said...

Yum! That looks beyond fantastic!!

Heather said...

that is just a beautiful soup! did you strain it? it looks so smooth!! and that bread looks amazing. i love rosemary and apples together. i make a rosemary/apple/soju cocktail. what great flavors!

Half Baked said...

Heather, Thanks! No I didn't strain this soup. I just pureed it with a immersion blender.

Anonymous said...

thank you for this great recipe. I just made it today and the soup was wonderful. I wish I had made the bread as well but the soup on it's own was great! will be posting about it on my blog within the next few days.

Cynthia said...

What a wonderful combination!

Anshika said...

Now when the summers have given in to winters, I have started getting cravings for something hot to warm my insides as soon as I am back from work. I love to make soups. Just perfect for my cravings.

Jelli said...

I'm making my menu right now, and I am now scratching off pumpkin soup to be replaced with this carrot soup. We've eaten the pumpkin soup 2x this week, and I love it, but Husband may get sick of it soon. Carrot soup should be the perfect change!

Jelli said...

I'm making my menu right now, and I am now scratching off pumpkin soup to be replaced with this carrot soup. We've eaten the pumpkin soup 2x this week, and I love it, but Husband may get sick of it soon. Carrot soup should be the perfect change!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Mmmm wow all of this looks so delicious! I'm all about that bread! I sooo wanna make it! :D

El said...

This blog post could not have come at a better time. I have a drawer full of carrots I need to use and I need lunch for the week. Beautiful post. Thanks!

heilpflanzen said...

Hey this seems very tasty food and I have never tried like this food before.I will try for this recipe in my holiday.Thank you for sharing such a nice recipe with us.

Denise Michaels - Adventurous Foodie said...

I used to have a Martha Stewart cookbook that was all recipes for the holidays. Anyway, it contained a recipe for a quickbread that includes apples and rosemary. It seems like kind of a weird combination until you try it. Once you get a little nibble you just want more and more. Of course a quick bread is a little more sweet, buttery crumb - but this seems like a great idea, too.