Roasted Fennel and Carrot Soup

I am a scientist at a research institute by profession. One day I was at our cafe having lunch with my colleagues and saw that a local farm was advertising CSA. When they were leaving, I was still at the cafe chatting with my colleagues. They stopped at each table to give away the produce that they brought with them. I was eying that basket for sometime now. Well, the basket went to a few tables before it came to ours. By then, the broccoli, the cauliflower, some herbs were gone. What I wanted was this beautiful bulb of fennel with its fronds hanging over the edge of the basket. I was hoping to get it and when the basket reached me, I grabbed it right away. And smiled.

I made this beautiful heartwarming fennel and carrot soup. 

No, I made roasted fennel and carrot soup.

No wait, I made roasted fennel, carrot, potato and onion soup.

Oh, it was so creamy. I wanted to be creamy, but since I was making a dairy free version, I couldn't add cream to it. Hence the potatoes. It was creamy and smooth. Garnished it with some roasted fennel seeds powder and it was perfect!

You need (for 3-4 servings):

1 fennel bulb or 1 cup (throw away the stalks and the fronds except a little for garnishing at the end)

½ medium yellow onion

2 carrots (I had two skinny ones, use one big fat carrot otherwise)

1 small russet potato or half a large potato (Russet potatoes are usually big in size, use half)

1 big fat clove of garlic

½ table spoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper 

2 table spoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon roasted ground fennel seeds

How:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Chop all the vegetables to ¼ inch thickness. 

Toss them with garlic, oil, salt and pepper and roast them in a roasting pan for 30-40 min, stirring occasionally until all the vegetables are slightly browned and soft.

Put all the vegetables in the food processor and blend them to a smooth paste. Add water to reach your desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve warm garnished with roasted fennel powder and fennel fronds.