Roasted Carrot and Garlic Soup with Fresh Herbs

I asked my son to buy me a 2 lb bag of organic carrots and he brought me BABY carrots - which I detest!  Last time he did this I also made a soup. It was a good day to make this, not very hot outside so the house wouldn't mind the hot oven being on...The only ingredient in these carrots, were "organic carrots", no preservatives so at least that was good.

• 2 lb bag of organic baby carrots, roasted
• 2 heads of garlic, ends trimmed off and roasted
• 1 large Vidalia onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 6 cups organic, low sodium "Better than Bouillon" vegetable stock
• Fresh cilantro, stems and all, to taste
• Fresh Italian parsley, stems and all, to taste
• Fresh oregano, stripped off stems, to taste
• Fresh thyme, stripped off stems, to taste
• Fresh chives, to taste and snipped for garnish
• 1/2 cup organic half & half cream (10% milk fat)
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• Organic extra virgin olive oil, as needed

I preheated the oven to 425°F.  First I prepared the garlic and put them in a tinfoil package, I doused with the olive oil and S&P.

I sealed them up and put them in the oven.  I lined a large baking sheet (my largest) with parchment paper.

I patted the carrots dry and put them in an even layer on the sheet pan.  I drizzled with oil and S&P.  I scattered a few stalks of thyme over them.  These also went in the oven.  It took about an hour til they were roasted to what I liked, tossing half way through.  I removed the stalks of thyme at that time too as they were dry and had done their purpose.

In the meantime, in a dutch oven, I sauteed the onion and celery in olive oil and S&P until golden brown and almost caramelized.   They smelled soooo good!  I added in the stock and brought to a low simmer.  I added in all the herbs and seasoning.

I didn't chop the herbs too much as I knew it would all be blended anyway.  I used a lot, because I like a lot of herbs in soup.  Finally the carrots and garlic went in.

I squished the garlic out of the cloves.

I tasted here and it was WOW!  So much terrific flavor!!!  I let this simmer for a half hour.  I got out my hand immersion blender and let it go until the whole soup was smooth.  It was quite thick.

I stirred in the cream and heated until hot.  I checked the seasoning.  I served, garnished with chives.

For such few ingredients, this had soooo much in taste going on!  Boom.  It was sweet without any sugar at all, smokey without any spice to make it so.  I believe the caramelization of the Vidalia onion is what made it so sweet.  The carrot/garlic roasting made it shine.  🌞🌟⭐