Recipe: Cream of carrot soup with mini potato puffs

Romilla Arber, from the Honesty Group, shares a warming winter treat

Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the soup -
4 leeks, trimmed
50g butter
650g carrots, peeled and sliced
3 sprigs rosemary
1.5 litres chicken stock
150ml single cream
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the mini potato puffs -
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
250g potatoes, peeled and quartered and cooked until tender
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp curry powder
40g cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp crème fraîche
flour, for dusting the work surface
1 x 230g pack of ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
1 egg yolk, for glazing
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method:

For the soup -

• Cut the leeks lengthways through the middle just before the root end and fan out under a running tap. Rinse out any grit that may be sitting between the layers, then shred the leeks finely widthways.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the leeks, carrots and rosemary sprigs. Sauté for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the stock and bring to a simmer, then cover and cook gently for 50 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and purée the soup in a blender. Tip the soup back into the pan, reheat and season. Stir in the cream just before serving.

For the mini potato puffs -

• Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Remove from the heat.
• Add the potatoes, breaking them up into bite-sized pieces as you do so. Add the parsley, curry powder, cheese and crème fraîche, taste and adjust seasoning.
• Take a 12-hole fairy cake tin. You won’t need to grease it as the pastry is buttery enough not to stick. Dust your work surface with flour, lay out the ready-rolled puffed pastry and use pastry cutters to cut out 12x7 cm circles and 12x6 cm circles. Seal the edges by pressing around the pies with the end of a teaspoon or your fingertips.
• Brush each little pie with the egg yolk glaze and then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.