This week our ingredient for Flavors is carrot. I had an abundance of carrots, because they're a vegetable that grows very well here in Alaska. I get lots of them in my weekly CSA box.

I didn't want to try to come up with some oddball recipe here. I made Carrot Soup. This is something that I make quite a bit, and never follow a recipe for. I made this one a little different than I usually do, using some complementary ingredients that I normally wouldn't use. The result was delicous. Fresh carrots are usually quite sweet, and with the addition of maple syrup in my soup, I wondered if it would be overly sweet. It was not. I think the orange juice cut the sweet, maybe because my orange was more tart than sweet. I garnished my soup with a swirl of plain Greek yogurt, which also added a nice tang. Another keeper as far as I'm concerned.

The complementary ingredients I used were onions, olive oil, thyme, ORANGE JUICE, MAPLE SYRUP,and allspice.

CARROT SOUP
5 cups carrots, sliced
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper, to taste
4 cups chicken broth
Juice of 2 oranges
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Greek yogurt, plain (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan. When hot, add diced onions, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft.
2. Add sliced carrots and chicken broth. Cook until carrots are tender.
3. Puree soup. I used a hand immersion blender. You can leave it a little chunky if you'd like.
4. Add juice from 2 oranges, maple syrup, and ground allspice.
5. Return to cooktop and reheat to serve.
6. If desired, garnish with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.