Roasted Carrot Soup with Toasted Fennel Seed Flatbread

As with a lot of my soups, roasting the veges first is important to bring out the natural caramelised sweetness. Oh and that toasted flatbread? Awesome, especially with the subtle sweet aniseed flavour of the fennel seeds amongst flakes of pink sea salt. I’ve been toasting up the rest of my batch of flatbreads to a earth-shattering crisp with different flavours like smokey paprika and cayenne pepper. It makes a great snack in a pinch when a bag of chips is nowhere to be seen.

I still adore my hearty winter food especially soups like these but there was something about it that screamed freshness, which might explain the slightly more Spring-like mood in the photos here. Or perhaps I’m just itching for September to roll around. Either way, this has put me in a fine frolicking mood.

Roasted Carrot Soup with Toasted Fennel Seed Flatbread

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1kg of carrots
A few sprigs of thyme
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1.25 litre of vegetable stock

2-3 large slices of flatbread (or Lebanese bread)
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Fennel seeds

Sour cream or crème fraiche to serve
Parsley

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C and line a roasting tray with baking paper. Roughly peel (optional) and chop carrots into 2cm chunks and place them in the tray. Drizzle over about 2 tablespoons (30ml) of olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and toss to coat. Scatter over sprigs of thyme and bake for about 45 minutes until carrots are golden and tender. Remove from oven and set aside.

To make the flatbread ‘crackers’, brush the bread with olive oil and scatter over some fennel seeds, sea salt flakes and cracked pepper to taste. Place it on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5 minutes or until golden and crispy. Remove from oven, allow to cool and break into pieces.

In a pot over medium high, heat up another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and tip in the chopped onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes until vegetables have softened and started to colour.

Add the ground spices and stir through. Cook for a minute until fragrant.

Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the roasted carrots and simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

In two batches, purée the soup in a blender until completely pulverised. Tip back into a clean pot and warm through. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste with salt and pepper. Feel free to use a hand blender if you wish but personally I prefer the blender to get the soup as smooth as possible.

Serve soup warm with a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche, torn parsley leaves and toasted flatbread.

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Adapted from Gourmet Traveller