Blue Cheese Potato Carrot Soup

Today I found myself in need of a comfort food dinner. Derek told me he could not have too much cheese before he played hockey. This eliminated the macaroni and cheese option. I have been really obsessed with soups lately. We had black bean soup last week and butternut squash soup the week before.

So, I made up a recipe. One of my very first, now I am going to share it with you.

Blue Cheese Carrot Potato Soup

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil (really you could use all olive oil if you want to avoid dairy)

4 medium sized carrots, chopped

1 medium sized onion (indifferent about color), chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 pounds russet potatoes (approximately), diced

3 cups vegetable broth (low sodium is preferred)

1 bay leaf

6-8 ounces blue cheese (something creamy), crumbled (blue cheese could be optional, it is not for me)

salt

pepper

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots and onions with a heavy pinch of salt. Sweat until onions are translucent (about 5 minutes). I love saying this even though I do not think onions are ever translucent.... Really they will just be soft. The carrots will not get soft yet.

2. Stir in the garlic. Let it cook for another minute or so.

3. Stir in the potatoes and let them get coated with the butter and oil. Then, pour in the vegetable broth and add the bay leaf.

4. Let this simmer on lowish heat for about 30 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are falling apart and soft. Then remove the bay leaf and discard.

5. Now, carefully, use a stick blender, regular blender, food processor, or a potato masher (maybe?) to blend the soup. At this point it kind of looked like baby food. It is bright orange.

6. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Then add the crumbled blue cheese and let it melt in.

Serve with wine, fresh bread and good company.

I apologize for the awful photos. Really the soup was good, my camera karma was just not with me today.