Quite a lot of carrot

It's no secret, I'm a big fan of root vegetables. The potato, in all its flexible glory, remains in the top spot, but the carrot has lately done quite a lot to convince me of its competing power in this honourable contest. And why not? With a confident colour, perceived insinuating shape, the subtle sweetness, confident crunch and vitamin-y goodness, the carrot should be proud of itself, and we should be proud of putting it centre stage - or centre table, at least.

That's what I've done today, with the most delicious lunch, which also happens to be very good for someone feeling a bit under the October weather (no, not the freaky summer weather in the south of England the last couple of days). It is a gorgeous, golden carrot soup with cumin and onion:

Carrot and cumin soup

Carrot soup with cumin, a scatter of parsley and a drop of cream

Serves 1-2 people - and it is really easy to make more, just double, triple, quadruple up...

1/2 onion, chopped

2-3 carrots, sliced

300 ml chicken stock

2 good teaspoons cumin - whole seeds, preferably, but ground works in an emergency

Some butter

Juice of a lemon

Salt

Fry onion until soft in a bit of butter in a thick-bottomed casserole. Mix in 2/3 of the carrots, and half the cumin, and let them heat up. Pour in stock (replace some of the stock with cream if you're feeling fancy), bring to the boil and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. Blitz until smooth in a blender or food processor.

While the soup is simmering, heat up some more butter, fry the remaining carrot pieces with a teaspoon of cumin seeds over low heat for 2 minutes. Squeeze lemon over and fry for 3 more minutes. Season with salt, and serve the soup in bowls with the carrot slices on top, and a scatter of parsley.

You can also serve with chopped, roasted almonds, a drizzle of creme fraiche, or any other toppings that look and taste good - deservingly of a carrot supersoup.