(posted by Ashley H.)

I have never made a carrot soup before. Admittedly, I have never even tried a carrot soup before. This one is worthy of keeping in your fall/winter soup rotation. Carrot soup by itself? Not awesome. Carrot soup with tahini sauce and crisped chickpeas? Amazing.

For the chickpeas I just used a 15ounce can. Drain and pat dry. Then toss with olive oil, salt, and cumin and bake for 10 to 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Mine came out looking like this.

Peel and dice two pounds of carrots. Saute these in olive oil with onion, garlic, coriander, and salt & pepper.

After veggies have softened add broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Then puree soup until smooth.

The lemon-tahini sauce is truly amazing. You just whisk together tahini, lemon juice, salt, and water until smooth and a yogurt-like consistency. This process starts off a little tricky since the tahini is so thick but stick with it and soon it will all mix together perfectly.

Like I said, I would definitely make this again. One thing though: my chickpeas had great flavor but they never actually turned “crispy” and I’m not sure why. I made sure they were patted dry before I popped them in the oven and I even left them in there ten minutes longer than recommended. For some reason they were chewy – definitely not crispy. If anyone has any tips/advice, please let me know! (This recipe can be found on the Smitten Kitchen blog.)