Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Retro Recipe Challenge #4

This month's theme for Retro Recipe Challenge hosted by Laura of Laura Rebecca's Kitchen is Fall Favourites.

In the very first Retro Recipe Challenge I made what was probably a 70's classic spring/summer starter, Prawn Cocktail. So I decided to investigate it's autumn equivalent. It certainly seems that Cream of Vegetable soups were the "sophisticated" way to start those ever-popular dinner parties.

The recipe I've found comes from Australian Gourmet Traveller who recently had a feature celebrating the magazines 40th birthday. It dates from 1974 and is by Tess Mallos.

By today's standard, this Cream of Carrot soup is rather straightforward - there's no spices or herbs to speak and might just be slightly bland for our more experienced palettes.

soup

Cream of Carrot Soup
[Serves 6]

30 grams butter, chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
750 grams carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1 litre/4 cups chicken stock
4 parsley stalks
1/2 teaspoon sugar
100ml pouring cream

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the onions and gently cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the carrot and garlic, stirring well, and cook for another 5 minutes or until they start to soften.

Add the stock, parsley stalks and sugar - season with salt and pepper to taste and then bring to the boil. Reduce heat and let this simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots are very tender.

Remove the parsley stalks before blending the soup until smooth.

When you are ready to serve, return the blended soup to the pan and over a medium heat bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add the cream, stirring well to combine.

Serve immediately.

Verdict - as suspected it's quite a mellow soup - the carrot flavours are upfront and the cream helps to lengthen the taste. It's probably something that these days we'd see whipped till frothy and served as an amuse in tiny cups.

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4 comments

  1. Haalo, I have meant to try the exact recipe for a while now but never had time to make it! Your photo looks so yummy. Love it!

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  2. Great minds WP ;) I noticed you used the same issue for your lovely Beef Stroganoff. It's an excellent article to see the changes in food.

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  3. I love carrots!

    This soup has such a wonderful color!

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  4. Hi Patricia - it does have an intense saffron colour to it and it's all just from carrots.

    ReplyDelete

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