Name: Carrot soup with herb chapons and buffalo-milk yoghurt
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 30 gm butter, coarsely chopped; ½ onion, coarsely chopped; 1½ tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar and pestle; ½ tsp mild paprika; 600 gm trimmed carrots, coarsely chopped; 1 litre chicken stock (4 cups); To serve: buffalo-milk yoghurt (see note); ½ cup each torn mint, chervil, coriander and flat-leaf parsley; ½ cup 5cm-lengths chives; Garlic and herb chapons; 200 gm baguette, preferably sourdough, coarsely chopped into large croûtons; 250 ml olive oil (1 cup); ¼ cup each flat-leaf parsley and basil, coarsely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed

Carrot soup with herb chapons and buffalo-milk yoghurt

Australian Gourmet Traveller French recipe for carrot soup with herb chapons and buffalo-milk yoghurt.

Serves 4

Prep

20M

Cook

50M

Total

1H 10M

This is a lovely light soup for spring, made crunchy with herb chapons – chunkier versions of croûtons. The sweeter the carrots, the tastier this soup will be.

Ingredients

30 gm butter, coarsely chopped

½ onion, coarsely chopped

1½ tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar and pestle

½ tsp mild paprika

600 gm trimmed carrots, coarsely chopped

1 litre chicken stock (4 cups)

To serve: buffalo-milk yoghurt (see note)

½ cup each torn mint, chervil, coriander and flat-leaf parsley

½ cup 5cm-lengths chives

Garlic and herb chapons

200 gm baguette, preferably sourdough, coarsely chopped into large croûtons

250 ml olive oil (1 cup)

¼ cup each flat-leaf parsley and basil, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

Main

1.Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add onion, coriander seeds and paprika, and stir occasionally until onion is tender (5-10 minutes), then add carrots and stir to combine. Season to taste, add chicken stock and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and cook until carrot is tender (20-30 minutes). Transfer to a blender or use a stick blender to process until smooth. Season to taste. If soup is too thick, add more stock.

2.For garlic and herb chapons, combine baguette pieces with 80ml oil in a bowl and season to taste. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add chapons and turn occasionally until golden and just crisp on the outside (5-10 minutes). Meanwhile, blend herbs and garlic with remaining oil, add to pan, toss to coat and set aside.

3.To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls, scatter over chapons, drizzle with herb oil from pan, top with dollops of buffalo yoghurt and scatter with herbs.