Potato Rosemary Soup With Crispy Carrots

LifeIsGood's Note:

I found this recipe in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens, and decided to try it since I had all of the ingredients on hand. Wow, was I ever impressed by this simple recipe. The soup is flavorful, thanks to the rosemary (although my daughter actually likes it better without the rosemary - your choice to add it in or not!) and very hearty. Perfect for a cold winter day. The crispy carrots are optional but they really do take this soup up a notch. I like to make the crispy carrots first, but you could also start making them while the soup simmers. I could eat the crispy carrots all on their own!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 medium russet potatoes (1 to 1 1/2 lbs) or 4 medium white potatoes, peeled and cut in 2-inch chunks (1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
• 4 cups water, divided
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Crispy Carrots

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, then cut in ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• kosher salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium-to-large-sized soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add potatoes, 2 cups of the water and rosemary. Bring to boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and can be pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
2. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until no lumps remain. (You could also use an immersion blender or a regular blender. This will make the soup smoother.) Add remaining 2 cups of water. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until thickened and to your desired consistency, stirring frequently.
3. Crispy Carrots:.
4. In a 10 inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Wait until the oil gets hot. Add the carrot ribbons, a few at a time, to the hot oil. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until crisp. Transfer to a cooling rack or paper towels and immediately sprinkle with the kosher salt.
5. Spoon soup into serving bowls and top with the crispy carrots and sprinkle with some black pepper.

Reviews

[awalde]

This was good and beautiful.
I used dried rosemary from the garden in the soup and for decoration a some fresh ones as well somevslices of boiled potatoes. The carrots ribbons were new for me and were really a nice addition. I'm not sure, perhaps next time I will try with vegetable broth instead of water and salt.
At the end I got a thick and tasty soup.