Carrot Soup. Carrot Top Pesto. Onion Seed Cracker.

This is a dish reminiscent of new beginnings for us. Whilst we have been entrusted with a rather grand manor house and Michelin-starred restaurant, we’re a rather homely team who like a good dose of nostalgia. So the arrival of Smoke on our estate last summer felt like a coming of age – a super relaxed, restaurant for the neighbourhood, stripped back to its stone floors and brick walls with dining in the surrounding candlelit greenhouses. The menus are inspired by the setting; woodfired feasts from the furnace house that was built in the Victorian days to heat the greenhouses. Plus small plates harvested from the walled garden and greenhouses.

This starter is coming to you from our opening days of Smoke from Chris Hogg, head chef of Peel’s on Wheels with carrots made from our walled garden.

You could just make the soup or go all out and make all the elements – zero waste those carrot tops!

We usually serve this with a piped Berkswell cheese custard. Making this involves a thermomix and precise cooking at 80°c. So to make this achievable at home the carrot top pesto recipe has been tweaked to include the cheese element. Enabling the home chef achieve these flavours until we can welcome guests again!

Serves 6.

Soup:

150g unsalted butter

150g sliced onions

2 crushed garlic cloves

500g carrots. Peeled and thinly sliced

500ml carrot juice

75ml white wine

6 sprigs picked tarragon 

3g salt

Sherry vinegar to taste

Sweat onions, garlic, carrots, salt in 50g of butter for 5 mins until soft. Add white wine, increase heat until evaporated. Add carrot juice, lower heat and simmer for around 25 minutes. Blend, adding remaining butter and picked tarragon until silky smooth. Pass through a fine sieve. Taste and add more salt if required and sherry vinegar to taste. The soup freezes well should you want to make a larger batch.

Pesto:

100g carrot tops (wash and dry if necessary)

50g chervil

60g blanched shelled walnuts

30g Berkswell cheese grated

1 clove garlic, micro-planed

100ml cold pressed rapeseed oil

Lightly roast walnuts at 160°C for 10 minutes, allow too cool. Place all ingredients with only a touch of the oil in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth gradually adding the remaining oil. 

Cracker:

The recipe will make more than needed for 6 portions of soup but surplus eats well with cheese, and stores in an airtight container for a week or so

500g strong flour

16g salt

40g sugar

1 beaten egg

185ml milk

90 butter

Onion seeds

Weigh dry ingredients into mixer with dough hook attachment. Melt the butter and add, then add the milk + egg. Mix until smooth dough formed, will take approximately 10 minutes.  Wrap in cling film and allow to completely cool in fridge. Roll out as thin as possible (we use a pasta machine). Brush with egg yolk then liberally sprinkle over onion seeds. Bake at 160°C for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. 

Enjoy and send us your pictures and comments @hamptonmanor