Carrot and Potato Soup recipe

Neither carrots nor potatoes freeze well so if you have an excess of either, then make this delicious carrot and potato soup and freeze it for use later on.
If you can, add a handful of Swiss chard, the red coloured stems add a splash of colour.

How easy to cook?	Easy
How long to cook?	From start to finish will take about 55 minutes
Does it freeze?	Freezes very well, keeps for three months
How many servings?	Four main meal portions, six starters
Special equipment?	You'll need a large pan or two medium sized ones.

All the loose ingredients for this carrot and potato soup recipe were sourced from our allotment, freshly picked just before cooking. Click the picture on the left (and any other picture on this page) to enlarge it.

For the curious, the potatoes were the Winston variety. The carrots were Nantes which had been planted amongst onions - no carrot fly at all this year!

INGREDIENTS	Quantities
Carrots	Five large ones
Potatoes	Five medium ones
Onions	Three medium ones
Garlic cloves	Four medium ones
Chard, spinach or kale	A good handful
Vegetable stock / broth	1� litres / 5� cups
Vegetable or olive oil	Four tablespoons
Dried basil and oregano	One teaspoon of each
Salt	Level teaspoon or to taste
Pepper	Quarter of a teaspoon or to taste

PREPARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR CARROT AND POTATO SOUP

Prepared ingredients for carrot and potato soup

Peel then top and tail the onions. Finely chop and put them in a pan on a low heat and add the oil. Stir thoroughly so the onions are coated in the oil and fry them for about 15 minutes stirring every five minutes. The idea is to soften them without browning.
While the onions are cooking, top and tail the carrots and then slice them. Peel the potatoes if they have have a thick skin and cut them into small cubes. Remove the skin from the garlic, top and tail them and finely chop. Roughly shred the chard / spinach / kale.

When the onions are softened, add the carrots, potatoes, vegetable stock and chard, spinach or kale. Turn the heat up to medium and cook for five minutes. Turn the heat down to low so that the soup is just simmering and cook for a further 25 minutes.

Add the salt, pepper, garlic, basil and oregano, stir well and cook for a further three minutes. Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Using a slotted spoon, remove about a third to half of the carrot and potato chunks. Use a food processor to blend the remaining soup. You'll need to do this in two to three batches.
Re-heat the blended soup, adding in the carrot and potato chunks. If you prefer all the soup smooth then just blend all the soup.
Serve with a parsley garnish and lots of chunky bread.

Carrot and Potato Soup Recipe