Ingredients
Method
- Prepare the vegetables. Peel the carrots, potatoes, onion and garlic and cut them into coarse cubes. Coarse means rough, chunky pieces of similar size, so they cook evenly. They will be blended later, so they do not need to be neat.
- Soften the onion and garlic. Heat the butter or vegetable oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently until they turn glassy, stirring now and then.
- Roast the vegetables. Add the carrots and potatoes and roast them for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring now and then, so they pick up some flavor from the fat.
- Simmer. Pour in the vegetable broth to deglaze, scraping up anything that sticks to the bottom of the pot. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. A piece of carrot should fall apart easily when pressed with a fork.
- Blend. Blend the soup until fine. A hand blender in the pot is the simplest way. If you use a countertop blender, work in small batches, do not fill the blender jar more than about half and hold the lid down with a cloth, because hot soup expands and can splash.
- Finish. Stir in the cream. Taste, then season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Season at the end, after blending, so you can judge the final flavor.
- Make the croutons. Cut the gluten-free bread scraps into cubes. Toast the cubes in butter in a clean pan that has not touched regular bread, turning them often, until they are golden and crisp. The source gives no amounts or times for this step, so watch the pan. Suggestion: you can toast them while the soup simmers.
- Serve. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and top with the butter-toasted croutons straight away, so they stay crisp. Optional: add a dollop of sour cream on top of each bowl.
Notes
To keep it gluten-free, check the labels. Vegetable broth can contain gluten or traces of it. Schär bread is gluten-free, but check the pack of the loaf your scraps come from. Also check the cream, nutmeg and pepper. Use a clean pan, board and knife that have not touched regular bread.
Potatoes: the source calls for mostly waxy or floury potatoes. Potatoes thicken the soup because their starch is released when they are cooked soft and blended.
Croutons: they are made from bread scraps, so the amount depends on what you have. The source gives no quantities, so the croutons are not counted in the nutrition estimate.
Butter or oil: the source allows either. The nutrition estimate assumes butter.
Storing and reheating (general guidance, not from the source): cool leftover soup quickly, keep it in the fridge, and reheat it gently until piping hot, stirring so it does not catch on the bottom. Keep the croutons separate and make them fresh.
Nutrition values are an estimate calculated from the ingredient list, not a lab analysis. They are per serving of soup only, without croutons.