Carrot Soup

The other week, Payal and I went to the Copley Square farmers' market (aka the happiest place on earth) and bought these amazing purple carrots. I've read that the original carrots were actually purple, but an orange mutant so captivated the Dutch (who were quite into breeding) that they bred it to conquer the carrot world. Too bad, in a way, because there are also red, blackish, almost white, and yellow carrots out there - but thankfully, these varieties are available if you seek them out or happen upon them!

To show off the color and try out one of my new birthday toys - an AWESOME immersion blender - I decided to make a carrot soup. The carrots themselves are sweet and delicious and I believe would make a very pretty purple soup. I didn't have quite enough purple carrots so I used about half purple and half orange - guess what color that makes!

I just did the simplest version possible (not even any pepper - but that's just because I couldn't figure out how to refill my cheap pepper grinder), but there are many possibilities here. Add some fresh ginger at the beginning? Creme fraiche at the end? Coconut milk? Indian spices? Fancy toppings - cilantro, croutons, fried cheese cubes?

Here's what I did, but this is really just an outline:

2 onions, chopped
1-2 T butter or olive oil
3-4 c vegetable broth or water
2.5 lb carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks (ehh...maybe 15 medium carrots?)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in the butter or oil until translucent, then add carrots and broth. Cook until the carrots are tender enough to blend, probably about half an hour. Blend in an immersion blender or food processor, then return to the stove and season to taste. Really, that's it.