Carrot and Coriander soup

Home made soup in our house is very popular for cold winter evenings when you need to get in and out again in a hurry.  We've always loved soup and we often make our own as it's easy to do and if you make loads you can freeze what's left over for a super quick meal.  Served with slices of fresh bread or toast with a little melted butter, soup is one my favourite mid week meals.

Ingredients
1 small onion
1 stick of celery
1 parsnip
1½kg carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1500ml vegetable stock
a large handful of fresh coriander
Lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

Method
Set the oven to 220°C.  While the oven's warming, line a roasting tin with tinfoil (it makes washing up a heck of a lot easier!)  Lightly crush and peel the garlic and add these to the tray, peel and quarter the onion, peel the celery, carrots and parsnip, cut them into large chunks and chuck them into the roasting tray with the garlic.  Add a little salt to taste and add the olive oil, just enough to coat the veg.  Put them on the top shelf of the oven and roast for 30 minutes, turning the veg mix once.

While the veg is roasting, prepare the spices and herbs.  Take the coriander and cumin seeds and add them to a large pan, one that's big enough to comfortably take the veg and stock.  Dry fry the spices until they release the aroma and the coriander seeds start crackling, then take them off the hear and grind the spices.  I use a pestle and mortar for this, if you don't have one of these you can rub the seeds between two dessert spoons to crush them. Put them back into the pan.

Once the veg have roasted, tip them all into the pan with the spices and add the stock.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the veg are all cooked through.  Turn off the heat and leave the pan to cool a little, then whizz with a hand blender until the soups is nce and smooth.  Add lemon juice, finely chopped coriander and salt to taste and serve with bread.