Creamy Carrot Soup with Dill and Mustard for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

So Memorial Day Weekend, especially when it is warm, hazy and pretty humid, may not seem like the time for carrot soup, but I always say that like Hawaii, soup has no real season and since this one is full of local carrots and dill, I think it works. (Especially when enjoyed in air-conditioning!) ;-)

Carrot soups can be boring, but the dill and a shot of Dijon mustard work well in this simple soup from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and give it great flavor. It's from Hugh's River Cottage site and uses a dollop of crème fraîche on top. I used a bit of non-dairy yogurt for a vegan soup but found a handful of 'Sweet & Beets' veggie chips also make a great topping for a creamy, pureed soup.

River Cottage says, "Carrot and coriander soup is a ubiquitous dish with good reason, as it s very tasty. You certainly could use coriander here. However, the clean freshness of dill is lovely with the sweetness of carrots."

Carrot Soup with Dill and Mustard
From RiverCottage.com
(Serves 4)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 celery stick, sliced
500g (about 1 lb) carrots, peeled and sliced
800ml (about 4 cups) chicken or vegetable stock, or water, or a mixture
15-20g bunch of dill (about 1/2 to 3/4-ish cup)
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
2 heaped tbsp crème fraîche, optional 

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and carrots. Once they start to sizzle, reduce the heat, cover the pan and sweat the veg, stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 12–15 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

Meanwhile, cut the top quarter off the bunch of dill and set aside for serving. Discard the stalks from the remaining dill, then roughly chop the frondy leaves. Add the chopped dill to the soup and simmer for another 2 minutes only. Add the mustard, then purée the soup in a blender. Return to the pan and season well with salt and pepper.

Reheat if necessary. Serve the soup in warmed bowls, topped with the crème fraîche (or yogurt--non-dairy or otherwise). Finish with the remaining dill and a good grinding of pepper. (And/or a handful of veggie chips!)
 

Notes/Results: I am not sure why I was craving carrot soup this weekend. Maybe it was the bright orange of a clump of locally-grown carrots, but this one really hit the spot. The dill and mustard give it an extra dimension of flavor that pairs well with the sweetness of the carrots and keeps it from being a one-note soup. Since there are not a lot of ingredients, I recommend a good veggie or non-chicken stock base instead of water. I would happily make this again.

I'm linking this soup up at I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week's theme is Escape to River Cottage--recipes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage books or website. You can see what everyone made by checking out the picture links on the post.

 

 
We have a few delicious dishes waiting this week in the Souper Sundays kitchen--let's have a look!

Debra of Eliot's Eats shared a salad bowl made from her Two Sheet Pan-Roasted Trifecta Vegetables and said, "Trying to get enough veggies into your diet?  Here’s a simple and easy and quick way that will keep you in healthy colorful vegetables all week.The colors of this recipe prompted the title “trifecta.”  Not only is it a beautiful dish, it’s also a win-win! ... You can toss these veggies with brown rice or quinoa and add a bit of tahini dressing for a delicious meal."

Claudia of Honey From Rock made Hugh's Warm Leek and White Bean Salad and said, "This recipe for warm leek and white bean salad with mustard dressing was delicious and a perfect first course along with some fresh baked bread. ... It looked like iceberg lettuce in the book photo, though he didn't specify, so I went looking for some organic iceberg, which is not all that easy, due to it's being out of favor at the moment.  I also added a bit of color in the form of small sweet red pepper and cherry tomato. The mustard dressing was great. A perfectly delicious combination of flavors."

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog offered up her 7 Best Memorial Day Salads for BBQs and said, "Memorial Day and BBQ's seem to go hand in hand. I've rounded up eight of my best salad suggestions for the occasion that will work for your vegetarian, vegan , and gluten free friends. Whether you are the host or the guest, you may be making a salad to serve or to bring. I love all of these whole food salads. They are easy to make, beautiful to serve, tasty and nutritious."
 

Mahalo to everyone who joined in this week! 

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you.

On your entry post (on your blog):

• please mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post.
• you are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

 
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and a happy, healthy week!