thank me later

What is bright orange and smells like bacon?  Carrot soup with bacon and hazelnut cream of course.  And what soup are you going to make for your family or friends this weekend?  Carrot soup with bacon and hazelnut cream of course.  And who is going to be the most popular cook this weekend?  You of course.  And who do you have to thank for this awesome recipe? Me of course.  Actually, me and Williams-Sonoma Entertaining Cookbook.  I used their recipe as a guide but ended up doing my own thing.  This soup was a home run and I will definitely be making it again soon.

 

Oh yeah, that would be bacon sprinkled on top.  How pretty is this soup?

Alright so here is what you will need for the soup:

5 slices of bacon

a few tbs of butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 leek, including the tender green tops, chopped

about 2 pounds of carrots chopped

1 russet potato, peeled and diced

6 cups chicken broth

For the cream (The original recipe is for a chestnut cream, but I used hazelnuts which worked really well)

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup sour cream

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

First get to chopping!!!

Then get to frying…

Once you have fried your bacon set it aside on a paper towel. Once it is cool you can crumble it.   You will get back to the bacon later.

Then in the bacon fat add 1 tbs of butter and melt.  Then add your onion and leek.  Saute until golden, about 10 minutes.  Then add the carrots, potato and 6 cups of broth and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan partially, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the hazelnut cream.  In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the hazelnuts and broth.  Cover and cook until the hazelnuts are tender.  I used a little more broth after about 5 minutes because they were drying out a little.  so keep and eye on them while they are cooking.  After about 15 minutes remove from the heat and transfer to a blender.  Add the sour cream and a pinch of nutmeg and process until smooth.  It will be a little thick and that is okay.  And a few lumps is alright too!  Set the cream aside.

After 45 minutes of cooking the vegetables in the broth remove from heat and transfer to a food processor or blender.  (if you have an immersion blender this would work best)  In batches blend the soup until it is to your desired consistency.   Return to a pan and keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Henry was helping set the table.

And serve the soup.  He is very hands on in the kitchen!

Top your soup with the hazelnut cream and bacon bits.  Yummy!!!!