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Seasonal Cooking: Fennel, Carrot and Apple Soup

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Earlier this year we made a much anticipated move and our new place includes a beautiful backyard! I had been growing a few things in boxes before and I am excited to expand into real gardening. My old boxes are still going strong, and filled with herbs and strawberries. I have also been growing vegetables and these feathery fronds above are carrots, which represent one of my first successes in growing fresh veggies to be eaten. 

I am also getting fresh produce delivered from Farm Fresh to You to round out my fruit and veggie selection and keep me eating healthy. 

 


Even though we haven't exactly been suffering from very cold weather this fall, the season always gets me in the mood for soup. Also, soup is a great way to take a lot of vegetables and create a meal that can be enjoyed over many nights. This is a good feature for our little household of two, so that we can enjoy all of our vegetables before they are past their prime.

My latest box included fennel and apples, so together with my carrots I created this delicious and seasonal soup to be eaten with a crusty, rustic hunk of bread.

Fennel: Fennel is a good source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, manganese, and folate as well as calcium, magnesium and iron. It can be eaten raw in salads and braised, roasted or grilled in addition to cooking in a soup.

When cooking with fennel, trim the stalks about an inch above the bulb. If grilling, keep the root ends to keep the pieces together. For other cooking methods, trim about a half-inch off of the root ends before cooking.

To slice fennel, stand it on the root end and cut vertically.

Roasted Carrot, Fennel & Apple Soup (from www.yummly.com)

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 lb. carrots (cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 2 medium apples (peeled, cored and cut into 16 wedges)
  • 1 small-medium fennel bulb (white part only, cut into wedges)
  • Olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon ginger
  • kosher salt
  • 3.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 400º F.
  2. Place carrots, apples and fennel onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Make sure to coat the pieces evenly. Bake in the oven for 45-60 min. Carrots should still be somewhat firm, but apple and fennel will be soft. 
  3. Remove the carrots, apple and fennel from the oven and put them into a large saucepan along with the oil. Add garlic, ginger and a large pinch of kosher salt to the saucepan. Pour the stock over the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 min.
  4. Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a blender in batches and puree it until smooth. Be careful blending hot liquids. Add more stock if you want to get the soup to your desired consistency. 
  5. Garnish ideas: dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, walnuts or croutons. 
Serves 4

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