The Recipe for Seduction Carrot Soup

6 days to go! That’s right; it’s time for the final countdown… to release day! And a give-away, because who doesn’t love freebies?

One of my first and fastest ARC readers asked me for THAT soup recipe. So, today, I’m going to give you THE RECIPE FOR SEDUCTION CARROT SOUP.

A little context (without any spoilers, promise):

Jean is the nanny. She enjoys cooking and that’s informally part of the nannying job… which is not at all a problem (they have plenty of problems, but this ain’t one of them). She’s in Paris and shops the markets and brings home all sorts of delicious fresh produce, herbs and spices and butter with sea salt crushed through it….

But one of the comfort foods she makes again and again is carrot soup. Autumn in Paris is gorgeous but when the wind gets up those avenues are great big whistling wind-tunnels. Tighten your scarf, but the northerly will snap-freeze your face, or that’s what it feels like.

Nothing like a bright, sweet, spicy carrot soup to warm you right up again. And maybe it warms Matt up in all the other ways too… you’ll just have to wait and see, when the book comes out on Valentines Day!

Ingredients…
(note: you can omit really anything except the carrots… so if you don’t have an ingredient on hand or just don’t like something, still good!)
– 4-5 reasonably large carrots, roughly chopped
– 1 onion peeled and roughly chopped (white/brown)
– 2 tbsp butter
– 1-2 potatoes peeled and chopped (thickens the soup, so go by your soup-thickness preference)
– 1 red capsicum
– 1 inch-ish fresh ginger root grated (or crushed, or from a jar… all good)
– 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic or a tsp out of a jar
– 1 tsp dried thyme (more if you use fresh)
– 1 tsp dried sage (more if you use fresh)
– 1 tsp cumin
– 2 stock cubes (chicken or vegetable) and boiling water
– salt and pepper
– unsweetened yogurt or coconut cream (optional)

Method:
1. In an enormous pot fry the onion, carrots, garlic and ginger in the butter.
2. Boil the kettle and dissolve the stock cubes in about 2 cups of water
3. pour the stock into the enormous pot.
4. Add the peeled, chopped potatoes and boil gently till soft.
5. Add the capsicum, cumin and herbs. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
6. Take it off the heat and add a cup of cold water. This stops it spitting at you while you whizz it up. Burns are no fun. Be careful!
7. Whizz it! I use one of those stick-whizz thingamabobs. You could use a blender or food processor. It should go smooth, but often needs a bit more water as it’s quite thick by now. Especially if you were reading a book while it boiled and lost track of time accidentally created a carrot soup reduction…
8. Taste, add salt and pepper as you like, and swirl a little yogurt or coconut cream artistically… especially if you’re trying to impress someone dishy and delicious.

Serve with fresh bread, if you can manage it. The chewier and crunchier the better. Tricky if you’ve got coeliacs, like Jean, but really any bread is improved if toasted, buttered and dipped in this soup.

When we lived in Paris, one of our closest friends was a real-life French chef. He said the only thing microwaves should EVER be used for is reheating soup. So, it’s official, you’re allowed to stash the left-overs in the fridge and zap them when you get peckish (or cold) the next day.

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