Saturday, August 16, 2008
Carrot Ginger Soup
10:56 AM | 
Posted by
Wide Lawns |
A couple people asked about my carrot-ginger soup. I don't exactly have a recipe with measurements and all that. I just made it up as I went along and it came out perfectly, but I can attempt to explain what I did in writing for you. The good thing about soups though is that there is a lot of room for flexibility without messing up the final result.
Here are the ingredients I used:
a bag of carrots, ends and tips cut off, sliced into rounds
one big shallot minced
butter and olive oil
one clove of garlic put through the press
probably a tablespoon or so of ginger, I use the kind in a tube like toothpaste, you can use fresh. Never use dried - that's for pumpkin pie.
tumeric
cinnamon
cardamom
cayenne
white pepper
a box of organic chicken broth or veggie broth
sour cream as a garnish if you like it - it's fine without it too
First I sauteed the minced shallot in a pat of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. If you're vegan just use the olive oil or some other kind of oil. Let the shallot get transparent and don't have the heat up too high. Then add the garlic and ginger and stir and sautee on lowish heat so it doesn't burn. When it starts to smell good add your carrot slices and sautee until everything starts to get combined and the carrots look like they're starting to cook. Then add your spices. I admit I didn't measure. I do it all by eye, knowing how much spiciness I prefer. I use tumeric because it's healthy and you should throw it in whatever you can get away with. I probably used about a half teaspoon of it or so. Then I used only a dash of cinnamon because you don't want the soup to taste like dessert. The amount of cayenne depends on how hot you like your food. I used about a half teaspoon of white pepper and since cardamom is strong and tastes kind of strange to some people I used the tip of my knife to measure it. Sautee for a minute or so to cook the spices. Then add your box of broth, stir it all up, put the lid on the pot and simmer it for about forty minutes to an hour stirring and checking occasionally. When the carrots are very soft remove the soup from the heat and let it cool down for about fifteen minutes. Then use an immersion blender to puree the whole pot into orange, spicy velvet. If you don't have an immersion blender you should go get one, but you can puree the soup in the regular blender or food processor in small batches. If you do this let it cool down a lot and only do a little at a time because the lid will fly off the blender and explode soup everywhere which will make you want to kill someone. You could also get burned, so please be careful. Hell, just go to Target and get the immersion blender. It's one of the best wedding presents I received. I use it all the time. I'm like the Queen of Puree. Once you have your soup pureed retaste it for seasonings before serving it. You might want to add salt (I didn't need it) or you might want more spices. Just season it however you like it. You can serve the soup with all kinds of garnishes too. Some ideas I like are a little spot of plain yogurt or sour cream, a sprinkle of chives, cilantro or parsley or just eat it plain. After I made this batch I thought it might have been good with a little orange juice or orange zest thrown in with the spices. Maybe next time I'll experiment with that.
Here are the ingredients I used:
a bag of carrots, ends and tips cut off, sliced into rounds
one big shallot minced
butter and olive oil
one clove of garlic put through the press
probably a tablespoon or so of ginger, I use the kind in a tube like toothpaste, you can use fresh. Never use dried - that's for pumpkin pie.
tumeric
cinnamon
cardamom
cayenne
white pepper
a box of organic chicken broth or veggie broth
sour cream as a garnish if you like it - it's fine without it too
First I sauteed the minced shallot in a pat of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. If you're vegan just use the olive oil or some other kind of oil. Let the shallot get transparent and don't have the heat up too high. Then add the garlic and ginger and stir and sautee on lowish heat so it doesn't burn. When it starts to smell good add your carrot slices and sautee until everything starts to get combined and the carrots look like they're starting to cook. Then add your spices. I admit I didn't measure. I do it all by eye, knowing how much spiciness I prefer. I use tumeric because it's healthy and you should throw it in whatever you can get away with. I probably used about a half teaspoon of it or so. Then I used only a dash of cinnamon because you don't want the soup to taste like dessert. The amount of cayenne depends on how hot you like your food. I used about a half teaspoon of white pepper and since cardamom is strong and tastes kind of strange to some people I used the tip of my knife to measure it. Sautee for a minute or so to cook the spices. Then add your box of broth, stir it all up, put the lid on the pot and simmer it for about forty minutes to an hour stirring and checking occasionally. When the carrots are very soft remove the soup from the heat and let it cool down for about fifteen minutes. Then use an immersion blender to puree the whole pot into orange, spicy velvet. If you don't have an immersion blender you should go get one, but you can puree the soup in the regular blender or food processor in small batches. If you do this let it cool down a lot and only do a little at a time because the lid will fly off the blender and explode soup everywhere which will make you want to kill someone. You could also get burned, so please be careful. Hell, just go to Target and get the immersion blender. It's one of the best wedding presents I received. I use it all the time. I'm like the Queen of Puree. Once you have your soup pureed retaste it for seasonings before serving it. You might want to add salt (I didn't need it) or you might want more spices. Just season it however you like it. You can serve the soup with all kinds of garnishes too. Some ideas I like are a little spot of plain yogurt or sour cream, a sprinkle of chives, cilantro or parsley or just eat it plain. After I made this batch I thought it might have been good with a little orange juice or orange zest thrown in with the spices. Maybe next time I'll experiment with that.
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8 comments:
PS. I forgot to add in that if the broth reduces too much just add water to replace it.
With you all the way on the immersion blender. Best gift I ever got, too. Last week I was making a recipe that called for tomato sauce or puree and I only had a can of whole tomatoes. Immersion blender, baby! It was a can of sauce in moments, and no blender to wash. I also used to use it to turn our dinners into baby food for the young sprout once upon a time.
wow that really does sound good. i'll have to try that! i bet the BF will love it. thank you!!
Did you use 1, 2, or 5 pound bag of carrots? I can wing it on a lot of the spices there's a big difference in the different bags of carrots! Sounds really good, and the orange addition sounds really good, too.
I've got a raging summer cold, and that sounds like exactly what I need right now.
Love your blog. But this recipe sounds ... strange. Maybe you have to experience the goodness?
Thanks!!! :-)
That looks yum. But as someone said -- what d'you mean by a bag of carrots? Given the one shallot and stuff, I'd go with maybe eight or ten, am I wildly out?