Carrot and Riesling Soup

I received an extra gift after Christmas from my mother-in-law: a copy of Three Chefs: The Kitchen Men, a cookbook by three Toronto chefs: Michael Bonacini, Massimo Capra and Jason Parsons. I was not aware these three had a thing going on Cityline, entertaining the at-home-on-a-weekday-and-watching-Cityline crowd (oh, to be unemployed again!) but it's a fun book to flip through. The recipes seem a little restaurant-fancy, but a few caught my eye.

I picked Jason Parsons' Young Carrot and Riesling Soup recipe (p. 32) because, well, I like cooking with white wine! And the idea of making a soup with wine sounded luxurious and delicious. This guy seems to be a chef at a winery, so no surprise he throws white wine around like it's water. I approve. I also liked that the soup was flavoured with caraway seeds and a cardamom pod. Of course as usual I changed the recipe around a little, so here's what I did.

I melted 1/4 cup butter in the pot. Then I added one chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves, and 1 cardamom pod. After a few minutes I deglazed with 1.5 cups of riesling and added two chopped green onions, 3 or 4 chopped carrots, and one chopped celery stalk. After toasting 1 tsp of caraway seeds I added those, with 5 cups of chicken stock and 1/4 bunch of dill. Then I let that simmer until the carrots were soft, about 25 minutes.

Then comes the fun part: slowly ladling the soup into the blender in batches. Man, do I need an immersion blender! The recipe also called for straining the soup in a fine mesh strainer before serving. I did this with a small amount to see what it was like, and it was a lovely, thin, smooth orange soup. But I felt guilty about getting rid of all that yummy vegetable puree, so I just kept it rustically blended.

Just before serving, I added 1/2 cup more wine and salt and pepper. Wow, was this ever good - the wine added a nice sweetness and tanginess to the soup. I also love dill, and don't use it nearly enough, so that was a bonus. Definitely a repeat.