Eat: Moroccan Carrot Soup Recipe

I make carrot soup a few times a year, often because there is an aging bag of carrots in the fridge that I hate to see waste away. I've made a few different variations, ranging from the typical carrot/ginger combination to curried carrot. These soups have turned out satisfactorily but I can never say they were good enough for me to crave leftover. This week I was faced with yet another bag of aging carrots so I decided to search epicurious for a new soup recipe. I came across Moroccan Carrot Soup, which has been in my recipe box for years but I never really gave it a second look. I decided to try it because the reviews were through the roof and the flavours seemed quite unique. Like most puree soup recipes, it was fairly easy to make. I couldn't believe how fragrant the toasted, ground cumin seed was. The addition of honey, allspice and lemon juice really transformed the carrot soup base into something so much better than basic carrot soup. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples which is an added bonus for the lazy epicure.

Follow the recipe, which can be found here. I made some modifications based on reviews/comments on the site:

• To amp up the flavour, add double cumin and allspice. Worth it.
• Add cumin and allspice while the onions cook, to get the most flavour out of the spices.
• Add salt & pepper (to taste) while the onions cook. The recipe does not emphasize this but both ingredients are needed to bring out the other flavours.
• If you don't like a sweet soup, use half the honey suggested. You will still taste it but it will be a more savoury soup, which is my preference.
• I forgot about adding the yogurt until after I served the soup. I didn't bother with it after I tasted the soup however, it really didn't need anything more.
• The recipe (to me, anyway) makes a small batch. Maybe 3 meal servings (see pic below). I'd consider making a double batch next time.