Carrot & Watercress Soup

You really can put anything in a soup, as this recipe goes to show.  I had a bag of carrots and some rapidly wilting peppery watercress to use up quick, and soup is always the best way to use up leftover ingredients, so here it is!

Mixing orange and green isn't the best colour combination, but this soup is easy to dress up with splashes of oil, croutons and sprigs of watercress. And, it's really good.

It's a variation of my roast carrot and cumin soup which I think is better, but this soup is far quicker.

• 6 large carrots
• 1 large onion
• 2 celery sticks
• Bunch or small bag of watercress (save a little for garnish)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Half cup of milk

1. Chop the carrots, onion and celery and gently fry for about 10 mins.
2. Turn up the heat and add the cumin and garlic. Stir through for a minute then add the stock.
3. Cook the vegetables for 20 minutes or so until soft.
4. Add the watercress, take off the heat and blitz with a hand mixer, adding milk to loosen the soup to your desired consistency.
5. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some whole watercress leaves.

Variations

I had some leftover paneer which I just added in chunks to this soup, lovely.

Frozen peas also works as an alternative to watercress.