Lush and nutritious

Recipe for Cream of Carrot Soup lets carrots move front and center.

Humble, bumpy, rough carrots. We peel and slice them into sticks and stuff them in lunch boxes or put them out with a dip when company comes. We chop and use them in soups and stews, but rarely do we let them star on their own.

This bisquelike soup changes that thinking. Pretty and lush, this creamy bowl of deliciousness gives carrots their due respect.

And it’s worth pausing to shake your head at how cheap carrots usually are; you can do a lot with a pound or two of carrots, and they won’t make much of a dent in your food budget. Carrots are also seriously nutritious — tons of vitamin A and antioxidants, and an assortment of other vitamins and minerals.

But once you start eating, you will not be thinking, “Boy, this sure is healthy!” Just surrender to the velvety texture and round flavor of the soup.

The addition of a small amount of white rice simply serves to thicken the soup once it’s puréed, which lets the carrots and other supporting vegetables hold the spotlight. However, I did try this recipe with jasmine rice once, and liked the faint aromatic flavor that it lent to the mix.

And it’s always amazing to me how a small amount of cream added to a soup adds such voluptuousness and rounds out the flavor. Skip it only if someone has a lactose problem (and in that case, ladle out their portion and add a bit of cream to the rest). Don’t tell them what they are missing.

Katie Workman has written two cookbooks focused on easy, familyfriendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.”