Carrot, parsnip, and tahini soup

For Christmas, my parents gave me an immersion blender, which completes my regression to infancy by virtually guaranteeing that I will not be eating any more solid foods. The first thing I made since coming back to DC was a West African groundnut stew, which I'll blog about as soon as I remember to take a picture of it before inhaling the entire thing.

The carrot soup was actually part of our Christmas dinner. But I decided to make it again so I can have all 6 servings to myself instead of share it. Yeah, it's that good. I think I'm head over heels for blended soups with nut butters. Similar to what it does for hummus, the tahini adds body and a certain smoothness to the vegetables in a way that even cream can't compete with.

 

Carrot, parsnip and tahini soup
Adapted from NYT

2 tbs oil
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne (less if you want a milder soup)
1 1/4 lb carrots, roughly sliced
2 parsnips*, roughly sliced and with the centers cut out if they're woody
2 cups vegetable/chicken stock
3 cups water
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I've never tried using dried thyme but would imagine that 1/4 tsp would work)
1/2 cup tahini
juice of 1/2 lemon (more if your lemon isn't particularly ripe)
1/4 cup fresh mint, thinly sliced

Heat oil in a large pot, add onions and saute until softened. Add garlic, salt, pepper, tumeric, coriander and cayenne and saute for another minute. Add carrots, parsnips, broth, water, thyme and heat until boiling, then turn down heat to a simmer until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Take out the thyme sprigs if using, add the tahini and lemon juice and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with a tablespoon of mint over each bowl.

*The parsnips made the soup quite a bit sweeter than the original recipe, so I upped the amount of tahini and coriander. But if you're not using parsnips feel free to go down to 1/3 cup tahini and 1/2 tsp coriander.