There are bloggers out there who develop recipes through meticulous trial and error, documenting their thought process test-kitchen style.
One day, I hope to be one of them.
As of now, most of my recipes and adaptations arise from a) a need to tastefully combine assorted leftovers, or b) accommodating for missing ingredients when I try to follow another recipe. This bright, tangy soup was the product of both the above processes. See, I’d had my eyes on a couple of carrot-based recipes for a while: Smitten Kitchen’s carrot salad with harissa, mint, and feta and a carrot and caraway soup from Bon Appétit. Both recipes use caraway, which I never cooked with before. I’ve since found out that caraway seeds (okay, fruit per Wikipedia) are commonly used to flavor rye bread and have a flavor that is similar, but not the same, as anise.