I planted carrots this year despite having two lackluster carrot years, but this year made up for it as I had a pretty booming crop of carrots in the small area I designated for carrots. I pulled some carrots a few weeks ago to make a braised honey carrot recipe and felt it was time to pull the remaining ones to make room for something else. So, I ended up picking about 4 or 5 pounds of carrots. These carrots aren’t very sweet as they definitely have a much more earthy flavor, so I thought they could do well with a good roasting to bring out their natural sweetness before I used them in something. Despite the warm summer we are having, I wanted a really good warm, thick soup so I came up with this recipe. This soup retains the carrots earthy flavor profile, but cumin and cinnamon add a more complex flavor, while a little honey sweetens it up just a touch.

Roasted Carrot Soup

Serves 6

• 4 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped in 2-inch chunks
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 onions, diced
• 7 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander

Toss the cut carrots with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan at 375° for 50-60 minutes, until the carrots wrinkle up and brown on the edges.Saute the onions in a pot over medium high heat until the edges start to brown and the onions are soft, about 7-10 minutes.

Add roasted carrots and stock and simmer for 30 minutes, until the carrots are soft. Working carefully, ladle half the soup in to a blender and puree it thoroughly. I needed two batches, but if your pot or blender are small, you may need additional batches. Do not over fill the blender and make sure to remove the center of the blender lid and replace with a cloth or paper towel to prevent the steam from causing the lid to pop off.

Return the pureed soup to the pot and add the cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice, honey and ground coriander and mix together with a whisk. Taste the soup to determine if you need any additional salt or honey, depending on the sweetness of your carrots or saltiness of your chicken stock. I served this soup with spoonful of plain yogurt on top, which added a nice cool, creamy component to this really healthy and thick soup.