Winter Carrot Soup

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic (jarred or fresh)
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 lb carrot (chopped into bite sized chunks)
• 4 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup chicken broth (see note)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• salt
• 1 cup rice or 1 cup pasta, cooked
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Recipe

• 1 in a saute pan, saute onions and garlic in a bit of oil (sesame is nice, but canola is just fine) until they start to look clear.
• 2 add carrots, pumpkin, and chicken broth.
• 3 stir to combine, and pick a few spices: nutmeg, cumin, paprika and cinnamon are my standards, but it's really up to you.
• 4 a bit of salt is nice, too.
• 5 once the carrots have softened, ladle them into a blender and puree.
• 6 return to pot, and repeat if desired.
• 7 you should have a nice thick bright orange soup.
• 8 now comes the tricky part.
• 9 produce rice, ideally from a forgotten chinese food carton in the back of the fridge.
• 10 (if no leftover rice or pasta is available, freshly cooked will work just as well.) dump this square of gluten into a bowl, and add lemon juice (tbsp+) and pepper.
• 11 microwave under plastic for about two minutes; the rice will soften and absorb the juice.
• 12 add this to the soup.
• 13 stir a few times to combine; serve.
• 14 a note about the chicken broth: as a variation, i've substituted orange and apple juice, and watered wine.
• 15 you may want to alter your spices a bit, but i think you'll be surprised at how bright this soup tastes.