Roasted Carrot & Chinese Five Spice Soup

If you've never tried Chinese Five Spice, spring is a great time to experiment. The blend of anise, cinnamon, star anise, clover and ginger is the perfect pair for roasted carrots and other root veggies or potatoes.

These carrots make a nice side dish for chicken, ham or grilled steak.

Alas, my boys are not big fans of roasted vegetables, so we usually have leftovers – which I look forward to. This way I get to make soup. I always have some chicken stock on hand, so making soup is a quick way to get lunch or dinner on the table.

The simple formula of vegetable + stock + spices works like a charm with many different vegetables (butternut squash, acorn squash, potatoes, carrots) or veggie combos (sweet potato and carrot.) Be sure to have fun with the spices. Nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice is nice with squash; a little curry or cumin or ginger goes well with carrots. Give it a try and let us know what you come up with.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Roasted Carrot & Chinese Five Spice Soup

1 pound carrots (baby or whole) peeled and cut into 1-inch or 2-inch pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 of a large onion, cut into chunks
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice, divided
Salt and pepper
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread all vegetables on cookie sheet. Drizzle with the oil. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice, salt and pepper. Toss to coat vegetables in oil and spices.

Roast for 40 to 50 minutes, tossing every 20 minutes or so. Cook until the carrots are soft all the way through when pierced with a fork.

Remove from oven and let cool.

If you have an immersion blender, place the vegetables in a large pot. Add 1 1/3 cups of stock. You can also use a regular blender, but you may need to blend the vegetables and stock in batches. Blend until smooth.

Taste soup mixture. Add additional Chinese Five Spice, salt and pepper as you like. If soup is too thick, blend in more stock, adding 1/3 cup at a time.

Once you obtain the consistency and seasoning that you prefer, heat the soup in a pot on the stovetop, or in a microwave-safe bowl.

Enjoy as is or with a side of toasted pita or other bread.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot soup is like autumn in a bowl. Rich and creamy from sweet potatoes. An earthy sweetness from carrots. It's the mealtime equivalent of a warm, cozy sweater. And it's the exact hue as the crunchy leaves littering my lawn.

Wait a minute...I think I was supposed to rake the lawn yesterday. Dang.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup
Serves: 4
Inspired by Crepes of Wrath

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2" pieces
1/2 large (or one small) sweet red onion, peeled and cut into thick slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Bonne Herbes* (optional)
Salt and pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
Spiced Pumpkin Seeds for serving, if desired

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line one very large or two small baking sheets with parchment paper for easy clean up.

Place vegetables on prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with Bonne Herbes (if using) and salt and pepper to taste. Toss together so vegetables are evenly coated. Roast for 35-40 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender, stirring halfway through to ensure even cooking.

In batches, puree vegetables and broth in a blender until smooth. Pour the soup into a saucepan and heat until warmed through. (If you have an immersion blender, you can just puree everything in the saucepan and skip the blender.) If the soup is too thick, add water or additional broth until it reaches your preferred consistency. Serve topped with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds if desired.

*Bonne Herbes is a blend of chives, dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, and pepper. Truthfully, I just sniffed around (literally) in my spice cupboard until I found something that I thought would work with sweet potatoes and carrots. While I really like the dimension Bonne Herbes adds to the soup, I think it would still be delicious without it. Or substitute a sprinkling of dried basil or tarragon.

Honey Roasted Carrots

I'm always looking for a quick and simple way to get vegetables on the dinner table. You can only eat frozen peas so many times before you need to switch things up. The need for speed combined with a crisper crammed with baby carrots resulted in today's tasty side dish.

You might have seen these Honey Roasted Carrots peaking out from behind my Chicken Packets last week. Next time you're looking for a fast veggie, give them a whirl. I think you'll enjoy them as much as we did.

Honey Roasted Carrots
Serves: 4

2 cups baby carrots (or regular carrots cut into pieces)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon finely minced crystallized ginger
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up. Toss carrots, butter, honey, and ginger together on the baking sheet. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until carrots are golden and crisp-tender.

Simply Roasted Carrots

I think I've made it chrystal clear how I feel about roasting: I feel happy about it. Tickled. Perfectly thrilled, in fact.

Roasting is so easy and so good. Am I preachin' to the choir out there or am I the only one singing the praises of a scorchin' hot oven putting crispy, caramelized edges on my veggies and tubers? Anyone? Bueller? 

Well, I digress. Moving on to carrots. Far too often these crunchy, vibrant fall beauties get relegated to the humble lunch sack. Heaven forbid Junior heaves them into the trash bin in favor of a Fruit Roll-up or Ding-Dong. I wanted my carrots to take center stage.

First I took my lunch-sack-ready baby carrots and hacked them into coins.  There were two reasons for this extra step: 1.) they look purrrty, and 2.) they cook more quickly when they're sliced up. Reason number two was obviously far more important to me. Then I tossed them on a baking tray (lined with parchment for easy-peasy clean-up) and glugged on some olive oil. (I think "glug" is an official culinary term.) A hearty sprinkling of salt and pepper, and into the oven they went.  After a few minutes the heat of the oven brought out the natural sugar and deepened the blaze-orange color of my simple carrots. They were indeed the star of the dinner table.

Simply Roasted Carrots

Carrots* (big or baby carrots), sliced into 1/4" coins
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Choose a baking sheet large enough for all of your carrots to fit in a single layer and line it with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Place carrots on the baking sheet and drizzle with oil.  (If you have a lot of carrots, use about 3 tablespoons oil. If you only have a few carrots, use about two tablespoons.)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss everything together with your hands. You want your carrots to glisten with oil and be evenly coated with spices. Distribute the carrots so they're in a single layer. Cook for 17-20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the carrots are tender and caramelized around the edges.

*Use as many carrots as you need to feed your family. The husband and I enjoy our vegetables, and three big handfuls of baby carrots feeds the two of us.

P.S. Interested in the fish pictured with these Simply Roasted Carrots? Check out my recipe for Pan-Seared Tilapia.