Roasted Carrot and Apple Soup

One day, I bought a 2 lb. bag of organic carrots, thinking that I would purée them for them for the baby lady.  The next day, I got my box of mixed vegetables from Washington's Green Grocer, and that contained about another pound of organic carrots.  Then, the baby lady quit eating purées.  Cold.  No more, she cried (which really just sounded like a baby wailing)!  So there I was, stuck with three pounds of carrots, and I had no idea what to do with them.

The baby lady seems to have decided that she loves soup, and because carrots are good for the eyes and because I desperately needed to rid myself of some carrots, I decided that carrot soup was on the menu for that night.  I had some parsnips on hand from forever ago that I was going to toss soon, so I added those, and added about half of a purple onion.  I think it turned out wonderfully and so did the tiny lady who demanded it from her high chair.

Serves 4 as a main dish

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1 in. slices

1/4 lb. parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 in. slices

2 apples, peeled and cut into 16 wedges (this is where an apple slicer is really handy)

1 small fennel bulb, cut into wedges

1/2 of a purple onion, cut into large slices

olive oil - just enough to coat the vegetables

salt and pepper to taste

3 c. vegetable broth

1/2 c. whole milk

How:

Preheat your oven to 400˚ F.  Place the vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with just enough olive oil to coat.  Roast for 45 minutes, or until vegetables are soft (carrots and parsnips may be slightly firm still, but that's ok).

Place the roasted vegetables into a large saucepan and add the vegetable broth and salt and pepper if you choose.  Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes.

In batches, transfer the vegetables and broth to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.  Return to the saucepan and stir in the whole milk.  Heat gently until warm and serve immediately.

~ you can add more or less broth or milk to change the thickness of the soup.  Mine came out pretty thick using the measurements listed above.

adapted from this recipe on My Man's Belly 
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