Carrot Soup with Tahini and Crisped Chickpeas

Every week for the past few weeks, I come home from the CSA with 3 lbs. of carrots. Literally, I'm turning orange. Most of the time I peel, slice and pop them in the fridge for snacking, but I still have a surplus. I did a little googling for carrot soup, and found this recent entry from Smitten Kitchen. Her photographs are beautiful, and put mine to shame! 

The soup is flavorful from the super fresh carrots, the tahini, some spice, and of course the floating crisped chickpeas are a nice little treat. I used quite a bit more spice than her original recipe, I like things extra flavorful! Rather than use her tahini cream swirl method, I crumbled in some feta and added the tahini directly to the soup. We enjoyed this soup with some pita wedges (sprinkled with za'atar and baked) and tabbouli. While we both loved the soup, it was the snack-able, addictive chickpeas that stole the show! 

Carrot Soup with Tahini and Crisped Chickpeas

slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

Soup:
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, finely chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tsp. ground corriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes
4 c. vegetable stock
1/4 c. tahini
1/2 c. Feta, crumbled
4 pitas, cut into wedges
1 tbsp. Za'atar

Chickpeas:
2 c. cooked chickpeas (I use dried, canned are fine, too)
1 tbsp. olive oil (I used cilantro-onion from The Olive Leaf)
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.
Add carrots, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt and red pepper flakes. Saute' until they begin to brown, about 15 minutes.
Toss chickpeas with olive oil, salt and cumin on a baking sheet, roast at 425* until crisp, stir occasionally.
Once vegetables have browned, add stock, and scrape up bits stuck to the bottom. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender, about 15 more minutes.
Remove chickpeas from the oven, place pita wedges on another baking sheet, sprinkle with za'atar and bake until crisp.
Puree soup using an immersion blender or by transferring to a blender, blend until smooth.
Turn heat off and stir in tahini, taste and adjust seasonings.
Ladle into bowls, top with feta, chickpeas and serve with pita.