Carrot and sun-dried tomato soup with tahini and harissa chickpeas

Carrot and sun-dried tomato soup with tahini and harissa chickpeas

With this recipe, I wanted to show how to create a tasty and satisfying meal from a bag of carrots. Cheap and humble carrots rarely incite excitement like some other veg, but to me, this represents an opportunity to show how delicious they can be. This soup is anything but boring. I’ve injected big flavors with the help of a retro classic - sun-dried tomatoes! In the 90s, we ate sun-dried, and their plumper, tangier counterpart semi sun-dried-tomatoes, with everything - sandwiches, pasta, salads. Since that decade, they have floundered as an ingredient (at least in my world). But in this recipe, sun-dried tomatoes combine with trendier pantry staples of harissa paste and tahini to create a bold carrot soup. It’s a perfect ‘in-between seasons’ dish, when the produce offerings are inconsistent and we just want a reliable veg that will deliver a really good weeknight meal. Carrot is always your answer.

The harissa chickpea topping is optional but they add a nice textural crunch to each bite. But you’re not in the mood to turn your oven on, you could skip.

Serves 4

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Ingredients

• extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 brown (yellow) onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• 450g (1 pound) carrots, washed, trimmed and chopped into 2.5cm / 1-inch pieces
• 3 teaspoons harissa paste
• 130g (about ½ cup) oil-marinated sundried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped (reserve oil for below)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1.25 litres (5 1/3 cups) vegetable stock
• 60g (1/4 cup) tahini paste, plus more to serve
• handful of dill leaves

Harissa chickpeas

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or oil from the marinated sun-dried tomatoes)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained (about 250g cooked chickpeas)
• 2 teaspoons harissa paste
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat a large pot on medium high. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, along with the onions and stir. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the onions are very soft.

2. With the heat still on medium, add the garlic and carrots and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the carrots to soften slightly. Next, add the harissa paste, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and stir for another 2-3 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock, cover, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes until the carrots are completely tender.

3. Meanwhile, place a medium frying pan (skillet) on medium high. Add the olive oil, chickpeas, harissa, and salt and season generously with black pepper. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring and shaking the pan every 2 minutes or so, until the chickpeas are golden and bursting.

4. When the carrots are ready remove from the heat, and using a hand-held blender, puree until smooth (you could also do this in a blender or food processor). Stir in the tahini.

5. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, and top with the crispy chickpeas. Drizzle over some more tahini, scatter with dill and serve immediately.