Recipes – № 52
Carrot Top Soup
Many market shoppers ask for carrot greens to be removed and tossed to keep the roots fresh and minimize the schlep. Don't do it! Take those tops and make yourself a soup so delicious and healthy it will simultaneaously send you on vacation and fix your ingrown toenail. On their own, carrot greens taste a bit too austere for my liking but combine them with onions for sweetness, potatoes for creaminess and chicken broth for umami and you get an unusual yet luxurious and comforting winner. The star anise adds a tropical twist, which might be why this soup reminds me of the calaloo soup common in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Choose unsprayed carrot greens in spring before the summer heat and pests beat them down.
Serves 10 (freezes well)
1 ¼ lbs carrot greens (stems included)
5 whole stars of star anise (or equivalent amount of broken parts)
3 Tbsp olive oil, more to finish
2 large yellow or white onions
10 garlic cloves (or 5-8 stems of spring/green garlic or wild garlic, green parts included, or 10 garlic scapes)
2 lbs medium or large potatoes (yellow or white)
2 quarts chicken broth, preferably homemade
Equipment: Blender
Thoroughly wash the carrot tops taking care to remove any dirt stuck to the stem ends and chop very roughly. Peel and coarsely chop the onion and garlic. Peel the potatoes and dice into ¾ inch pieces.
Make star anise tea: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan and add the star anise inside a teabag made for loose tea if you have one or just toss the star anise in the water directly. Simmer for 15 minutes. Discard the teabag or filter the tea through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.
Meanwhile, sauté the onions in the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until translucent but not browned. Add the garlic and some sea salt and sauté for another minute. Add the potatoes, filtered anise tea and chicken broth, bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes and greens are soft (25 minutes or so).
Puree the soup in batches in a blender adding a glug of olive oil to each batch. Add salt to taste. Don’t be shy – keep adding salt and tasting until eventually the unusual flavors come together in glorious harmony. Serve.
Recipe adapted from the World Carrot Museum. Yes there is such a thing. And you thought what I did was eccentric.
Add a comment