Mountain Flavor: Carrot Leek Soup

Warm your spirit with winter dishes from some of West Virginia’s top chefs

Small but mighty, there’s something special about Fayetteville’s Cathedral Café that keeps both tourists and locals coming back time and time again.

Maybe it’s the original stained glass windows of the old church that bend rainbow colored light through the open airy space, or the tall bookshelves filled with borrowed books left by anyone passing through, but patrons agree that the space has a special warmth beyond its great cup of coffee.

Owner Wendy Bayes keeps a fresh menu stocked with healthy ingredients and hearty fixin’s, ranging from her signature homemade soups to sweet potato pancakes.

Whether you stop by for breakfast or lunch, don’t skip out on dessert, because Cathedral’s carrot cake is a fan favorite. The 3-tier indulgence is filled with carrot, pineapple and walnuts, and held together by layers of rich cream cheese icing, making finishing it in one sitting a feat not for the faint of heart.

If you’re feeling the winter chill, this sizzling, savory soup should help:

Carrot Leek Soup

Serves 12

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs carrots, shredded or diced
  • 6 leeks, from the white part up to slightly green only, sliced thin
  • 1⁄4 cup flour
  • 11 cups veggie stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp. fresh thyme
  • 1⁄8 tsp salt
  • 1 ½ tsp black pepper

Instructions

  • Saute carrots and leeks in 6 tbsp. of butter, until carrots start to bleed color (tender crisp)
  • Add ¼ cup flour, work through until pasty
  • Add veggie stock
  • add bay leaves
  • add fresh thyme, salt and pepper
  • Bring all to boil, reduce heat, simmer 20-25 min,
  • Remove Bay leaves.
  • Add heavy cream and blend until leeks are mostly smooth

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This post was last updated on July 21, 2020