I often post about the flavor and freshness of food grown in a home garden. This week I thought it would be fun to take you through the process of picking, cleaning, cooking and eating said produce!
Recently I experimented and made carrot soup. I’ve never actually made it before, so I wasn’t sure I’d be successful. Also, I’ve never actually followed a recipe in my entire life. It must be my Italian blood…I like dashes and pinches and that sort of thing. I don’t speak “teaspoon/tablespoon” language! I browsed the Internet and found several recipes that looked interesting. I then picked out the ingredients I thought would taste good together and combined them to make my own thing. (which is probably a recipe somewhere, but whatever!) Luckily I ended up with a flavorful, easy-to-make tasty soup! (this does not always work for me as you may imagine).
Unfortunately, because I kept adding and tasting until I decided the soup was perfect, I don’t have a specific recipe for the end product. If you are like me, you’ll have no problem following my “recipe.” However, here is a WARNING: If you absolutely must follow a recipe to the letter, this blog post may make you insane! 🙂
Okay, let’s get started! First, wash about two pounds of beautiful carrots. I “weighed” them with my hands. Then remove the tops and dice. There’s no need to peel them, the outside skin won’t hurt you. It will probably give you character, which you won’t find in most soups (ha!) Add the carrots to a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down to low and simmer covered for about 20 minutes, just until tender.
Meanwhile, cut up half a yellow onion (or the whole thing if you want) and three stalks of celery (or more). Cook in a pan with some butter until transparent. Eat some of this while you wait, it is SO good!! I like to eat this while it’s cooking and still a bit crispy, YUM! I’m pretty sure I ate at least 1/4 of it so less went into the soup.
The neatest part of this recipe is using “fresh” ginger root. It’s too cold to grow ginger in my area, so I can only hope that what I purchase is fresh, considering I have no true quality/standard with which to judge. But, if you’ve never grated ginger, you’ll be surprised. The aroma is truly indescribable. In fact, in my opinion, it’s the yummiest most refreshing and pleasing scent I’ve come across in a kitchen. There is nothing else that compares. Or, I’m just a bit goofy and you won’t agree, which is fine too.
Now, find the curry powder, and salt and pepper. (I’m addicted to sea salt,mostly because I can actually see the salt granules, and their crunchiness is so yummy. I also like to use a pepper grinder, because it makes me feel like a chef).
Allow carrots to cool, then pour carrots and remaining water into the blender and blend. Do NOT try to do this too early. Hot veggies steam up the blender and can blow the lid off, spattering soup all over the counter, walls and floor. If you aren’t careful, you can also get burned. I learned this the hard way when making split pea soup a few years ago.
But I digress, back to the soup! Add the onion/celery mixture and about 3 cups of milk (dairy, almond, soy, coconut etc.) to the blender and blend until smooth. Now grind in some pepper, salt, a 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder and about 5 pinches of ginger. Blend again. Taste. Add more spices until soup tastes perfect. Serves 4 people.
Making this recipe probably takes less time than reading this blog post. And, it tastes great with bread & wine. Share with good friends. Bon appetit!
December 19, 2011 at 7:12 pm
I can attest to the tastiness of this soup! Also, fyi, the carrot variety was “mokum.” Its an extra early variety and is so delicate (read: crispy juicy tasty and with weak tops) that it cannot be harvested mechanically. So its a scrumptious type that cannot be found in a grocery store 🙂
I like carrot soup so much now, I think I’m going to make it for christmas dinner!
December 22, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Thanks Anna! Good to know about the “mokum” variety. I’m so glad you were able to share them!! What a fantastic day that was.