Belgian Herbed Carrot Soup
Traditional Belgian cuisine highlights the best of Medieval European cooking skills. This means that they utilized fresh local European herbs before the spice trade. This soup is easily veganized with plant-based butter and oatmilk.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or plant-based butter
- 3 medium leeks, white and light green parts
- 1 large onion
- 6 cups vegetable broth (you can use my easy basic broth recipe, or used boxed broth)
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds carrots
- 1 large baking potato
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup oatmilk or other milk of your choice
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
Instructions
- Wash and thinly slice the leeks into rings. Slice the onion.
- Peel and slice the carrots into 1-inch slices.
- Peel and cube the potato. You don’t need to be precise in your chopping, since you will puree the soup at the end.
- Melt the butter in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion. Cook, stirring until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth, the carrots, potato, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer, covered, until the vegetables are very soft, 35-40 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool a little. Discard the bay leaf.
- Puree the soup with a stick immersion blender. Stir in the oatmilk. Season with salt and pepper.
- Reheat the soup and serve sprinkled with minced parsley.