Carrot soup can be made from scratch all year long. It's a delicious blend of carrots, potatoes and cream, seasoned with lemon and white wine. This soup can be made vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of beef broth.
Serves 4
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3 T. butter
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 1/2 c. carrots, peeled and chopped or 3/4 lb.
- 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 1/2 T. lemon juice
- 3 c. beef broth or vegetable broth
- 1 c. dry white wine
- 1/2 tsp. sugar (optional)
- 1/2 c. cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped chives for decoration (optional)
- .
- Dumplings:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. breadcrumbs
- 1/4 tsp. salt or to taste
- Pepper and freshly ground nutmeg to taste
Preparation:
To make the Carrot Cream Soup:
Melt the butter in a 4 quart saucepan and saute the onion for several minutes. Add the carrots and potato and cook for another 3 minutes. Do not brown. Add the lemon juice, wine, broth and a half teaspoon of sugar (optional) and bring to a boil. Simmer for 25 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.
Make dumplings in the meantime (see below).
Puree the soup in a blender in 2 batches or with a hand blender (immersion blender) in the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Place dumplings in bowls and ladle the soup over them. Add about 1 tablespoon cream for decoration and some chives if you wish. Serve hot.
To make the Cream Cheese Dumplings:
Bring a large pan of water to just under a boil.Mix all dumpling ingredients in a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. If the dough is too thin to form into dumplings, add another tablespoon of bread crumbs.
Using two teaspoons, form dumplings (see image) by taking about 1 tablespoon of dough in one teaspoon and using the second teaspoon to smooth the dumpling. If you transfer the dough several times between the two spoons, you will form a triangular egg shaped dumpling that is common in German cuisine. If you would rather, you may also just form smooth, round balls using your hands.
Drop the dumplings into the simmering water and cook for 3 - 5 minutes, or until done. Dumplings are done when they float to the surface and are firm all the way through. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain. Use in carrot cream soup (see recipe above).
