FARM BOX SWEET POTATO AND CARROT SOUP

This is a great recipe that Ashley found from Food and Wine Magazine that allowed us to utilize the beautiful sweet potatoes and carrots from our farm box. There isn't a whole lot to this, but it is very earthy and really makes the connection to fall comfort. The onions and butter in the beginning serve as a nice base and the white pepper adds a subtle spice very different than black pepper. I finished this with some home made croutons that are totally worth the effort, which is very little at best.



4 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 1/2 cups hot chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 Garlic clove, peeled and cut into three pieces
Whole wheat country loaf of bread
Garlic croutons, for serving



First things first, peel and cut your carrots and sweet potato into about 1 to 2 inch pieces and finely chop in the food pro.  The food processor is going to do most of the work here.  We have the big ol 16 cup food pro so were able to finely chop the veg in one swing, if you have a smaller one just work in batches.

A couple 5 or 6 or 7 pulses...until the potatoes and carrots are finely chopped...god bless you food processor.

Thinly slice your onion and get your butter ready to get into the pot.  Melt the butter over medium heat and saute the onion covered stirring occasionally until nice soft and fragrant...

So first you we add five cups of heated broth to the soup and finish with another 1 1/2 cups, so I heated the first five, and after I added them, then put the last part of the broth into the pot to warm.

Here's where the butter and the onions get started.  Once the onions are done, get the carrots and potatoes into the pot and stir for two minutes until soft.

Toss a little salt and white pepper here to build some flavor

Once the veg is soft, add the hot broth, tomato paste, bring to a boil and half cover for about 15 minutes.  Add some salt and white pepper with the broth to continue to build the flavor.

Get your parsley, lemon and butter for finishing ready whilst the soup is a simmerin

After everything is nice and soft, get the soup into the blender in batches to make a nice puree. 

side bar:  go in batches and go with low

speed.  If you fill the blender to high with

hot food you could blow the lid off of it and

make a huge mess and possibly experience

3rd degree soup burns.  Go slow and in batches.

This is purely anecdotal

Once the soup is nice and pureed, add it back to the pot and finish with the butter, lemon and parsley and put it over low heat...it's time for the garlic croutons.

Finish the taste of the soup with salt and white pepper as needed...make sure you taste it!

Slice a couple two three pieces of your country loaf.

OVER LOW HEAT throw in your garlic clove and about a half inch of olive oil into the pan.  Let this go for about 20 minutes to allow the garlic to infuse into the oil.  You can set this up while the soup is cooking if you want to save some time.

Before you cut the slices into cubes, season them with olive oil, salt and pepper on each side, THEN cut into cubes.

Pour almost all of the oil and the garlic into a ceramic container for saving and enough bread to cover the bottom of the pan and cook until sizzling and brown.  Flip each piece with the tongs...it should be about 2 minutes per side, maybe less.

Place the first batch of bread on three paper towels to drain and dry so they get crunch and not soggy.

Once your croutons are done, add just a couple at a time and swirl around in the soup, again as to not let them get soggy.  This was a lot of soup which we enjoyed for two dinners and two lunches.