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.

Three generations of carrot soup, which feels about right.

A few friends asked me for the recipe, so it lives here now. Pair it with green pea chowder for a two-soup starter if you want a longer table.

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.
Add the carrots and potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing catches.
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.
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. Read on a tablecloth, it reads as a starter; read on a tray with a roll, it reads as a weeknight bowl.

Process shots

Kitchen worktop with peeled carrots on a chopping board, peeled potatoes in a bowl, a measuring jug of vegetable stock, paprika, white pepper, and a saucepan of sweating onions on the hob. — Mise en place. Onions already sweating; carrots and potatoes peeled and ready.

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.

A saucepan on the hob with finely grated orange carrots piled on top of softened onions, a wooden spoon resting in the pan. — Grated, not chopped. Coarse grating breaks down in the 15 minutes you have before the stock goes in.

A saucepan simmering on a hob, full of orange carrot and potato in a translucent broth with onion strands visible. — Simmering after the stock is in. The potato gives the body once it's blended.

Three generations

Florence loves it. From grandad, to me, to her: three 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.