Vegetarian

Roasted carrot soup with savoury granola

The orange in this roasted carrot soup gives it a lovely fresh zing. Topping the soup with cool crème fraîche and savoury, crunchy granola gives it wonderfully contrasting textures.

Ingredients

For the soup

700g carrots, chopped into large batons
3 cloves garlic, skin on
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1/2 orange, zest and juice
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
700ml low-salt vegetable stock

For the savoury granola

70g oats
50g Parmesan cheese, finely grated*
70g mixed seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper

To serve

2 dollops of crème fraîche
Crusty bread and butter
*for a vegetarian option, you can use nutritional yeast.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Add the carrot batons and garlic cloves to a roasting tray. Drizzle over the olive oil and honey, and massage into the carrots. Squeeze over half an orange, grate over the zest and add the fennel seeds. Season before popping in the oven for 45 minutes or so, until the carrots have caramelised. Check half way through and toss the carrots to make sure they don’t burn.
Prepare the granola by mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl – using your hands if easier to mix the ingredients well. Transfer over to another roasting tray lined with baking parchment. Season well before placing in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the oats and nuts are golden and crispy. Take out of the oven and set to one side to cool.
When the carrots have around 15 minutes to go, add the red onions and celery into a deep pan with the cold olive oil, then heat the pan up slowly over a low heat. Let them sauté gently, for at least 15 minutes, until soft and then add in the carrots, making sure to scrape in all the delicious bits from the tray.
Mix together well, then add in the stock. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes. Season to taste, then blitz until smooth. When ready to serve, stir in a dollop of crème fraîche per person and sprinkle over the savoury granola. Keep any leftover granola in an air-tight jar for future use.