Warming soup on a cold day

We have had snow here since Thursday (four days!).  The photo below was taken yesterday morning and it has continued to snow today as well.   It’s probably only a very small amount for many people from outside the UK, but it’s quite a lot for Shropshire.

Anyway we have cheered ourselves up with a hearty bowl of soup, sourced in part from the garden.  It was carrot and Jerusalem artichoke soup with the latter being home grown.  The Jerusalem artichokes have been stored in the garage since I dug them up at the end of November.  They have been stored loosely enfolded in shredded paper and kept as dry as the damp atmosphere has allowed.  So far so good and although one had gone a bit soft (but okay to use) the others were fine.  The soup is made as follows:

Ingredients

• Four good sized carrots, chopped into chunks
• Approximately equal amount (weight) of Jerusalem artichokes, chopped
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 large onions
• Vegetable stock
• Olive oil
• Pepper

Method

• Sweat the onions in a small amount of olive oil until soft and golden.
• Add the carrots, Jerusalem artichoke and celery and cook gently for five to ten minutes.
• Add sufficient vegetable stock to cover the veggies and simmer until they are soft.
• Season with pepper.
• Blend until smooth and add any extra stock or water if needed.

Here is a picture of my bowlful just before lunch!  It was smooth, hearty and warming and tasted very creamy even though it had no cream in it.  Yummy!