Carrot-Gruyere with Pistachios soup & Walnut Levain Bread

On a recent visit to Powell's Bookstore in Portland,  I came across a "Soup of the Day" book by Kate McMillan.  In the Fall, my daughter always has "soup Sundays" so I bought this book for her.  When I got home, I started looking at the book more and, while I gave the book to my daughter as intended, I ended up ordering one for myself.

The first soup I cooked was this Carrot-Gruyere soup. I do not feel it is right to share recipes from a book (everyone deserves their form of living!)  but you couldn't go wrong with sauteing or roasting some carrots and onions,  blending them together with some salt, pepper, and unsalted pistachios and then adding a handful or two of gruyere. If you aren't comfortable with experimenting with proportions, then I suggest the book. :)

The proportions of ingredients were perfect -- no single ingredient dominated -- in spite of having a lot of carrots,  it didn't taste like "carrot soup",  and in spite of gruyere being a fairly flavorful cheese, it didn't taste like "cheese soup".  It really was a perfect blend of flavors (assuming you aren't looking for either carrot soup or grueyere soup!).

And, what is a meal -- especially soup -- without a good bread?  Ken Forkish's, Walnut Levain... anyone even contemplating baking their own bread, I cannot recommend his book, "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast", enough!