Roasted Carrot Soup

Happy Halloween everyone!

Do you have big plans for the evening?  Dressing up?  Going to a party?  Cuddling up on the couch for some scary movies?  Making food from my Meal Plan Monday roundup of Halloween recipes?  Tell me about it!

I'm still on the fence about this evening.  I don't have a costume...Not sure if I want to go out on the town on a Wednesday... It's starting to sound like a night of food and scary movies is in my future.  I would do some homework but that's getting a little too ambitious for Halloween don't you think?

Speaking of ambitious...

If I was a really ambitious blogger I would have been posting "Halloween" recipes for you over the last week.  If I was a remotely ambitious blogger I would at least have a Halloween recipe for you today.  But guess what...I don't.  What a let down right?  I don't even have an excuse.  Psh.

At least the soup is somewhat orange/reddish?  I could get creative and call it roasted witch finger soup or something like that.  But see...I just made that up on the spot.  And that was really lame.  So we are going to stick with roasted carrot soup and just be happy that it's a fall color and even happier that it's stinking delicious.  Roasted vegetables win every time.  We've talked about that.

Vegetable Soup = Eh.  Okay.  Roasted Vegetable Soup = YES. NOW.

roasted carrot soup

Adapted from Five and Spice 

Makes: 4-6 servings 
Prep Time: 10 minutes 
Cook Time: 50 minutes 
Total Time: 1 hour

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients:
2 lbs. carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large yellow onion, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
6 whole cloves garlic, peel on and one end sliced off
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 two-inch knob of ginger, grated
1 piece of orange peel, about 4 inches long
several sprigs of mint
5 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed from the same orange you acquired the peel from)
2 teaspoons cumin
salt and pepper to taste
crumbled feta (for serving)
thinly sliced green onions (for serving)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°.  On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots, onions, and garlic cloves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spread them out in a single layer and roast, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned, about 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven.
2. Add a small dash of olive oil to a large soup pot and heat over medium heat for about a minute.  Stir in the carrots and onions and peel the garlic out of it's clove and add to the pot along with the piece of orange zest and the mint sprigs.  Turn the heat to medium-low.
3. Take the grated ginger and squeeze all the juice out of it and into the pot.  Stir well and add the vegetable stock.  Bring the pot to a boil and then turn down the heat to let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft.
4. Remove from heat and take out the orange peel and mint sprig.
5. Puree the soup in batches in a blender, until smooth.  You can choose to do the entire pot for a completely smooth soup or leave some of the vegetables for a fuller bodied soup.  Return the soup pot to the stove and place over low heat.  Stir in orange juice and cumin.  Then salt and pepper to taste.
6. Dish the soup into bowls and top with feta cheese and green onions.  Serve immediately with a big yummy piece of bread.