Carrot and Cilantro Pesto Soup

Last week during our knife skills classes at school, we cut up a lot of vegetables. Small dices, large dices, julienne strips, and minced; carrots, celery, parsley, and onions.

A few days later, after we used all we needed in our classes on stocks, we had the opportunity to bring some veggies home.

So I loaded a few baggies up with carrots with my mind set on making my mom's carrot and cilantro soup.




In prepping for the recipe, I decided to make it vegan, which meant no evaporated milk that would make the soup creamy.

No worries. It would still be awesome, I told myself.

In the end, I missed the milk. So I added something else for added flavor: Cilantro Pesto.

I think my experiment turned out well.

Carrot and Cilantro Pesto Soup
Adapted from Tastes of the States
Soup
6 carrots
1/4 cup cilantro, stems removed
3/4 cup onion, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons flour
3 cups vegetable broth
Cracked pepper to taste
Cilantro Pesto
2 cups cilantro, stems removed
2 clove garlic
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan (optional)
olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

To make Soup:
Peel and slice carrots. Place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until carrots are tender but not mushy. In a food processor or blender puree carrots with cilantro. Set aside.

In a stockpot, heat oil. Saute onion until soft. Add flour and cook over low heat for two minutes until golden. Slowly add broth and carrot mixture and cook for 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

To make Cilantro Pesto:
In a blender or food processor, chop up pecans and garlic. Add cilantro and grated Parmesan. Blen while slowly adding enough oil to make a smooth mixture. Blend until desired consistency.

To serve, you can either mix all the pesto into the soup or serve the soup with a spoonful of pesto on top. I did the former so that the flavors were evenly dispersed and had time to meld together.

Another option: you can serve this soup hot or cold. It is refreshing cold and warming when served hot. Your choice. Try it both ways. I did.