Name: Grandad's carrot soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 3 tbsp butter; 450 g carrots, peeled and grated; 220 g potatoes, peeled and diced; 2 small onions, finely chopped; 850 ml vegetable stock; 1½ tsp salt; White pepper, to taste; 2 tsp paprika (optional, for a smoky note); 1 tbsp fennel seeds; 2 tbsp double cream, plus a little extra to serve

Grandad Callaghan’s carrot soup has been the Christmas dinner starter at the family table for as long as I can remember. Grate the carrots so they break down fast, sweat two onions slowly in butter, finish with paprika, fennel seeds, and a swirl of double cream. The reward is a velvety, faintly smoky soup that punches well above its ingredient list.

A few friends asked me for the recipe, so it lives here now.

Close-up of a heap of peeled raw carrots on a purple chopping board, ends still attached. — Peel the carrots fully; the soup is the colour of the skin you leave on.

Grandad's carrot soup

Serves 4

Prep 15 mins

Cook 45 mins

Total 1 hr

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter
450 g carrots, peeled and grated 1 lb carrots, peeled and grated
220 g potatoes, peeled and diced 8 oz potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small onions, finely chopped
850 ml vegetable stock 1½ pints vegetable stock
1½ tsp salt
White pepper, to taste
2 tsp paprika (optional, for a smoky note)
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp double cream, plus a little extra to serve

Method

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over moderate heat.
Reduce the heat to low and sweat the chopped onions until soft and translucent, about five minutes.

Onions sweating gently, with the carrots and potatoes peeled and ready to go in.
Add the carrots and potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing catches.

Grated, not chopped. Coarse grating breaks down in the 15 minutes you have before the stock goes in.
Stir in the fennel seeds. Add the paprika now if you want the smoky finish.
Pour in the vegetable stock and simmer for a further 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

Simmering after the stock is in. The potato gives the body once it's blended.
Season to taste with the salt and white pepper.
Take the pan off the heat and blend. I use a hand blender straight in the pot; it keeps the body of the soup. Pressing through a strainer makes it thin and loses too much of the texture.
Return the pan to a low simmer, uncovered, for a couple of minutes.
Stir in the cream and adjust the seasoning.
Serve hot with a swirl of cream and a sprinkle of fennel seeds.

Notes

Make ahead. The soup doubles cleanly and freezes well in 500 ml portions. Thaw overnight and re-warm gently; do not let it boil once the cream goes in.
Bread. A homemade roll is the right partner; a torn chunk of supermarket sourdough is fine when time is short.
Smoky or not. Skip the paprika if you want a cleaner carrot flavour. The fennel is non-negotiable.
Christmas plating. A small bowl, a thread of cream, two fennel seeds on top. Set it on a tablecloth and it reads as a starter; set it on a tray with a roll and it reads as a weeknight bowl.

Four generations

F loves it. My grandad made it for my dad, my dad made it for me, and now I make it for my children. Four generations on the same bowl.

It is the Christmas dinner starter every year, and a 45-minute weeknight bowl the rest of the time. The hardest part is the peeling and the grating, and let’s be honest, that is not very hard.