Carrot Apple Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 None shallots, chopped
800 g carrots, roughly chopped
1.5 litres vegetable stock
700 g tart dessert apples
good pinch caster sugar
good pinch cayenne pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
None None basil sprigs, to garnish

Preparation

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the shallots for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for a further 3 minutes. Stir in the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 15 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
While cooking, peel, core and roughly chop all but one of the apples. Add chopped apples to the saucepan and cook for a further 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the sugar and cayenne pepper and blend using a food processor or immersion blender.
Core and slice the remaining apple and toss with the lemon juice. Reheat the soup and season to taste. Ladle into soup bowls and spoon the apple slices and basil sprigs on top to garnish.