Carrot-Tarragon Soup

I would pay a lot of money to be served this soup in a restaurant… which is quite frightening considering the fact that it cost me about 2 euros to pay for the ingredients. Eating this soup made me wonder how many times I’ve been tricked into paying 20 euros for something that barely cost the restaurant anything at all… but in the end, I just didn’t care.

I was so inspired by this recipe that it launched a two-week experiment in soups made with my trusty immersion blender… and it also inspired this week’s post over at Accidental Hedonist. I’ve tried several different soups this week and have met a lot of success (don’t worry… those recipes are coming.)

I’ve noticed that often, carrots are paired with ginger to make a soup. The reviews over at Epicurious, where I found the original recipe, suggested adding ginger and garlic to make the soup more flavorful… but for once I decided to forgo the reviews and go with the original, and I’m so glad I did! The sweetness of the carrots combined with the unexpected but complimentary flavor of tarragon was a novel idea. If you’re worried that there won’t be enough flavor, you could consider roasting the carrots to bring out more of their natural sweetness, but I adored the soup as-is.

Carrot-Tarragon Soup (Adapted from Bon Appétit)
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 cup water

1/8 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon Scotch whiskey
1 tablespoon dried tarragon

salt and pepper

Heat the butter and olive oil over high heat in a skillet. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, and sauté until softened and slightly browned. Add the carrots and cook together for two minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat, and cook until the carrots are soft.

Using an immersion blender, blend the carrots and onions together. Add the tarragon, orange juice, whiskey and a generous amount of black pepper. Cook together over low heat for five minutes. Taste to check for seasonings.