Carrot Cilantro Soup

Over the past week,  I seem to be craving lots of vegetables.  One of my favorite standbys is a Carrot Cilantro soup from a recipe by Alice Waters.  It has a hearty base of carrots and potatoes and topped with a tangy and peppery salsa.  The recipe calls for chicken stock but the vegetables are so flavorful that I have used water instead. Another key feature of this recipe is using enough salt during the stewing of the vegetables.  I use Maldon sea salt for this and most of my cooking. If given time for the flavors to blend, I think this soup tastes even better on the second day.

Carrot Cilantro Soup
1 white onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch carrots (about 2 pounds)
3 potatoes
salt and pepper
1 bunch of cilantro
1 quart chicken stock (or water)

Salsa
1 chopped red onion
juice of 2 limes
1 jalapeno pepper chopped
chopped cilantro leaves (1/3 of the bunch from above)

1. Chop onion and stew in butter over low heat in covered pot for about 10 minutes.
2. Peel carrots and potatoes, cut in chunks.
3. Add carrots and potatoes to onions.
4. Salt generously (about 1 tsp) and continue to stew for about 10 minutes.
5. Add chicken stock and simmer over low heat until vegetables are cooked (about 30-40 minutes).
6. Add about 2/3 of cilantro (chopped) to the pot.  When cooled, puree or simply mash the vegetables to get a thick chunky consistency.
7. Then adjust the seasoning with more salt if needed and a generous sprinkling of ground pepper.
8. Prepare a salsa with the following: chopped remaining cilantro, chopped red onion, chopped jalapeno pepper and the juice of 2 limes.
9. Garnish soup with the salsa and serve.

Enjoy!