This was a quick lunch I made for myself on a day when I had to use up three carrots, since we’d got our organic veggie delivery the day before, and the old ones had to go. We froze a bunch of leeks after the previous organic delivery, so now I could just take one leek that was already cut in matchsticks out of the freezer, and add that to the cooking pot. I added cashews for a creamy texture and some garlic and lemon for taste, and these simple ingredients really brought the best out of my carrots.

Making soup can’t get easier than this; I placed the ingredients in a pot, and cooked for 15 minutes. This batch makes one big bowl of soup, and would easily serve two as a starter. To make it a little fancier, I would garnish the individual servings with chopped cilantro, basil, or other fresh herbs.

Here’s what I had:

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 leek, cut in matchsticks
• 1 big clove garlic
• a handful of cashew nuts (about 1/2 dl I’d say)
• water to cover
• salt to taste
• about 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• a little freshly ground black pepper

I placed the carrots, leek, garlic, cashews, and salt in a small cooking pot, and filled it with just enough water to cover them. Now, I covered the pot with a lid, and cooked the soup for about 15 minutes, until the carrots were tender. I puréed the soup with our immersion blender until creamy, added about a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (a few squeezes), and adjusted the saltiness. Then I poured the soup in a bowl, and crushed some black pepper to garnish.