Tomato-Carrot Soup (Domatesli Havuç Çorbası)

I have young and quite picky clientele at home for whom I have to cook and not disclose my ingredients. This, of course, is not easy with many dishes, but soups are great for food plotting. For years in our house soups were classified by their color; green soup (yayla soup), pink soup (beet soup), yellow soup (simply red lentil soup), etc. Tomato-carrot soup was known to them as orange soup and to me as "salvage-mushy-tomatoes" soup: whenever tomatoes get too soft to enjoy at breakfast or in salads, I throw them in the freezer and when I have approximately 2 cups worth of tomatoes I make this soup. This simple soup is one of our family favorites. I made this for my mom and some of my Turkish aunties back in Turkey and they all asked for the recipe and that's when you know it is a damn good soup!

serves 4-5 people

2 cups of fresh tomatoes (roughly chopped-if you're using cherry tomatoes leave them as is) or 1 can diced tomatoes

2 medium orange carrots

1 whole red bell pepper, roughly chopped or 6-7 red or orange sweet Italian peppers, seeded

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

3-4 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

optional

1 cup milk or heavy cream or coconut milk

or chicken broth

-Heat a heavy bottom pot or you soup pot and add oil.

-When oil is hot add onions and red peppers with the bay leaf. Stir on medium (if it's a cast iron pot) or high (if you're using a stainless steel pot) until soft, ~5 minutes.

-Add carrots and garlic. Stir until vegetables start to brown on the edges and caramalize, ~10 minutes.

-Add tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes, until fresh tomatoes change color. 

-Add 5 cups of water or broth of your choice. 

-Salt to your taste and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes, until carrots are cooked. 

-Take the bay leaf out and with a hand blender smoothen the soup. 

-Enjoy with a slice of toast on the side and crumbled feta on top. 

    If you want to twist it around, add just 4 cups of water or stock and after blending the soup add a cup of milk, heavy cream or coconut cream, whichever flavor you fancy. 

 

 

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