I love making soups – they’re so simple to do and there are unlimited numbers of combinations of flavours and ingredients.  Also, most soups keep well in the fridge for a few days and make great healthy snacks and lunches or as a starter for a dinner party – simply warm them up when needed.

We’ve been getting huge bunches of carrots (carrot-tops included) over recent weeks in our veg box so I’ve been basing a lot of our meals around them (sorry G!)  Today’s lunch was a very simple carrot and orange soup, which literally took me about twelve minutes from walking through the door to sitting down to eat.  

(Serves 4)

• Bunch of organic carrots – approximately eight, scrubbed, topped and tailed and roughly chopped
• 2 organic oranges
• 2 gloves of garlic – peeled and crushed
• Drizzle of organic sunflower oil
• 5 teaspoons or ground coriander
• 2 pints of vegetable stock (I use Kallo organic stock cubes)
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan
2. Add the ground coriander and garlic together with the carrots
3. Sauté for about 3 minutes
4. Grate the zest and the juice of the oranges to the pan (I also often add the remaining peel and flesh for additional flavour and then just remove before blending)
5. Add the veg stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 8 minutes to soften the carrots
6. Blend and return to the heat (I use a hand-held blender most of the time as it’s much quicker and makes far less washing up!)
7. Season to taste and serve