bittman's creamy chickpea and carrot soup

It is times like these when I wish I had an immersion blender. That happen to you? A product you have eschewed forever suddenly seems like the best thing in the world.

When I had my son I was determined to make all his food from scratch. No store bought baby food for my baby. If any time was the right time it was then, but I didn't buy an immersion blender to grind all his cooked veggies and fruit into the mush he could eat. I used a food mill, my food processor and even my own two hands before I'd buy one. Why so stubborn, you ask?

Good question. Mostly due to my smaller than small kitchen, my interest in keeping things simple, and my thrifty (er, cheap) sensibilities. 

Now that my son's almost four and wont eat anything even slightly resembling baby food, you'd think I was past the moment. But making creamy soups, soups that need to be blended, is a real pain.

You need to transfer all that hot stuff over and back again into the pot to reheat, since it cools off while blending. Making a mess of the kitchen, stove and using more pots and pans than seems necessary.

Even without an immersion blender this soup is delicious. The sweet carrot and orange flavors meld nicely with the sultry spices and chickpeas.

I am entering this in Kahakai Kitchen's Souper Sunday.

It comes to you from Mark Bittman, my hero.

{recipe}