Carrot, Chervil & Crème Fraîche Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1 onion
1 fennel bulb
1 celery stick
2 garlic cloves
500g carrots
1 vegetable stock cube
A handful of chervil
100ml crème fraîche
½ tbsp olive oil
700ml boiling water
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

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Method

1. Peel and finely chop the onion. Trim and finely chop the fennel bulb, saving any feathery fronds for later. Trim and finely chop the celery stick. Peel and grate or crush the garlic.

2. Warm a pan on a medium heat for a few mins then pour in ½ tbsp olive oil. Add the onion, fennel and celery and cook on a medium heat for 5 mins till starting to soften, stirring now and then.

3. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the carrots. Fill and boil the kettle.

4. After the veg have cooked for 5 mins, add the garlic to the pan and fry, stirring, for 1 min. Add the carrots to the pan and pour in 700ml hot water from the kettle. Crumble in the stock cube. Pop a lid on the pan and simmer for 15 mins till the carrots are soft.

5. Meanwhile, finely chop the chervil, discarding any really thick stalks.

6. Add most of the chopped chervil to the pan, saving a pinch for garnish. Blend the soup till smooth with a hand-held blender in the pan, or ladle into a blender to blitz. Stir through most of the half-pot of crème fraîche, saving a little to dollop on top.

7. Taste the soup and add salt or pepper if you think it needs it. Ladle into warmed bowls and finish with a swirl of crème fraîche each, the reserved chervil and any fennel fronds.