Roasted Carrot & Tomato Soup with a Topping of Basil Infused Creme Fraiche

By onetribegourmet • February 25, 2011 • 12 Comments

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Author Notes: I roasted the carrots and the tomatoes in the oven, which brings out that extra flavor and sweetness in the vegetables. I roasted garlic along with fresh basil leaves drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. I used organic carrots & vine ripened tomatoes for the soup. I also used store bought organic chicken stock for the soup. I poured the soup simultaneously for a distinguished look. You can see from the pictures that tomato soup has a rich red hue and the carrot soup has the lovely orange color which makes the presentation very dramatic. You can certainly impress you friends! I topped the soup with a dollop of Basil infused creme fraiche for extra freshness & creaminess! - onetribegourmet

Serves 4

16 ounces bag of organic carrots
5 organic vine ripened tomatoes
16 ounces organic chicken stock or vegeable stock
3 garlic cloves, chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup creme fraiche
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Pre-Heat Oven to 400 degrees. Cut up Carrots and Tomatoes into large size chunks.
Chop Garlic and Basil leaves. Spread the Carrots, Tomatoes, Garlic & Basil leaves onto a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil & salt/pepper. Roast in the oven for at least 40-50 minutes.
In two separate deep saucepans add 8 oz chicken stock to each pan, let it come to a boil. Add the roasted carrots to one saucepan and the roasted tomatoes to another, let it cook until the vegetables are very tender and are mashable. Check the seasoning and add salt/pepper to taste. At this point you can puree the carrots and the tomatoes with a hand-held blender right in the saucepans.
You can certainly add more chicken stock or water if you feel the consistency of the soups are thicker. To make the Basil infused Creme Fraiche, I blended the fresh Basil leaves & Creme Fraiche in a mini food processor for a minute or so until the basil was chopped nicely.
For the presentation, take two 1 cup pyrex measuring cups fill one with tomato soup and the other with the carrot soup. In a somewhat large soup bowl, pour the soups at simultaneously while holding the measuring cups in each hand. Now dollop a tablespoon of Creme Fraiche on top of the soup.