Because you asked...
Dear Internet,
Following is the world-famous "Endless Carrot Soup" mind you this is pretty freehand stuff, so don't get all hung up on the measurements.
1 large onion or two medium leeks (white & pale green parts only)
2T butter or EVOO
2T grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 lb. carrots
2 c. water or stock
Sauté the (roughly diced) onion or leeks (cleaned well) in the butter or EVOO. Cook for a long time (15 minutes at least) over medium to low heat, just to "sweat" then add grated gingerand garlic and cook for a couple minutes longer. Add carrots, peeled and sliced. Continue to saute for another 5 minutes (ideally, you want to caramelize a bit of the carrot). Add water or stock to cover by an inch, and cook for 20 minutes at a steady simmer, until carrots are tender. Here is the tricky bit! This soup tastes better made a day before so you can (in fact, should) stop here, and allow it to cool. Cool soup will be much easier to puree in a regular blender (pureeing hot soups in blenders can be eithera bit slow or very explosive!) until the soup is smooth. You can, of course, use a food mill, food processor, or a hand blender but nothing beats the regular blender for smoothness. Salt and pepper to taste.
Variations! This is where the endless part comes in...
Following is the world-famous "Endless Carrot Soup" mind you this is pretty freehand stuff, so don't get all hung up on the measurements.
1 large onion or two medium leeks (white & pale green parts only)
2T butter or EVOO
2T grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 lb. carrots
2 c. water or stock
Sauté the (roughly diced) onion or leeks (cleaned well) in the butter or EVOO. Cook for a long time (15 minutes at least) over medium to low heat, just to "sweat" then add grated gingerand garlic and cook for a couple minutes longer. Add carrots, peeled and sliced. Continue to saute for another 5 minutes (ideally, you want to caramelize a bit of the carrot). Add water or stock to cover by an inch, and cook for 20 minutes at a steady simmer, until carrots are tender. Here is the tricky bit! This soup tastes better made a day before so you can (in fact, should) stop here, and allow it to cool. Cool soup will be much easier to puree in a regular blender (pureeing hot soups in blenders can be eithera bit slow or very explosive!) until the soup is smooth. You can, of course, use a food mill, food processor, or a hand blender but nothing beats the regular blender for smoothness. Salt and pepper to taste.
Variations! This is where the endless part comes in...
- Finish soup with some sour cream, cream or creme fraiche, swirled to the tune of about 1T per bowl, or added to the pureeing process (in the blender you can get away with 2%milk!).
- Replace the ginger with curry powder or garam masala, in which case you may wish to serve with cucumber-yogurt raita.
- I have discovered that, in lieu of carrots, sweet potato works well, as do various hard squashes.
- The ginger can be also substituted with chipotles or smoked, hot paprika.
- You can use scallions or shallots in place of the onions
- You can caramelize the onion/leek/whatever, which is especially nice wih hot or smoky seasonings
- Crumbled bacon as a garnish is a nice touch as are leeks, grilled or frizzled, chives in any manifestation and infused oils.
- SHARPLY seasoned, homemade croutons are also good.
There!
-Joke
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