Curried Carrot Soup, or 'What to do when soup sets your mouth on fire'

Be excited: this soup is wonderful. Between the sweetness of the carrots, the warmth of the curry, and the heat of the cayenne, you have something very unusual, very delectable on your hands.

Be warned: if you don't watch your cayenne, you will wind up with something slightly atomic.

Be encouraged: in the event that you make your soup way too hot, there is a cure: milk. Yes, that's right, just a splash of milk tamed this soup, and allowed all of the other, really gorgeous, rich flavors to come through.

Happily, this soup was incredibly easy to make. Start by prepping your carrots.
Then, get some onions going in a Dutch oven with some olive oil.
Add the carrots.
Let that meld together for a bit.
Add in your curry and cayenne.
Add some stock.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Then, break out your immersion blender and whaz it all up.
Taste: and if it is so hot, you think you might die, try adding some milk. I also tried orange juice, but I think the milk was more effective. If it is good, serve...
...and enjoy!

Curried Carrot Soup (adapted from foodnetwork.com)
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 pieces
4 cups (32 oz) low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 Tablespoons curry powder
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper* (I strongly recommend 1/4)
Coarse salt
Chives, cut into 1 inch pieces (optional)**

Directions:
In a Dutch oven, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes. Add carrots to pot, add some salt,*** and cook for 5 minutes. Add curry, cayenne, and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Puree with an immersion blender. Taste and adjust the seasoning.**** Serve.

*I added 1/2 teaspoon and that made it incredibly hot.
**The recipe also calls for sour cream to add at the end, which just is not my style, but maybe would help with the heat.
***I think adding salt at this layer is important to try and layer the flavors as much as you can.
****If too hot, add a splash of milk. If still too hot, you are in trouble.

Roasted Balsamic Carrots

Remember my father's garden?
Well, this is how it looks in September. All fall colors and 100 pound pumpkins.

But, believe me, it is still chalk full of goodies.
Pulling up carrots in the garden is one of my favorite activities, and it has been as long as I can remember. I mean you start pulling on this green stuff surrounded by dirt, and all of a sudden:
Voila!

Not only is pulling up carrots enjoyable, I think carrots might be one of the most underestimated vegetables. People think they are fine as far as carrots go, but rarely do people think of them as impressive or delicious. But, just look at them: something this gorgeous has to be delicious.
The key to unlocking the potential in carrots involves giving them a little extra love. Do things to bring out their natural sweetness: pair them with flavors that suit them, like balsamic, orange, or thyme; and choose a method that gives them a little extra time to sweeten up. I like roasting them, with that high heat, they get almost caramelized.

This go round, I roasted the carrots and tossed them with balsamic, and I am telling you, this dish is one of the best things I have ever made.

To make them, as ever with roasting, two things are important. First, cut the carrots evenly, so they roast at the same rate. Second, get the carrots in one layer on a baking sheet. If you crowd them or layer them on top of each other, they will steam, and not roast. Which means that the outside will not get crisp and golden, just mushy.
(I threw in some garden picked new potatoes as well).

Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Pop them in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until they are beginning to look charred.
Pull them out, and immediately toss with a splash of balsamic vinegar, a little salt, and a little pepper. Let them sit for a few minutes,
and these will get you rethinking the everything you knew about carrots.

Roasted Balsamic Carrots
Carrots, peeled and cut into even pieces*
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425. Arrange carrots in one layer on a baking sheet. Toss with salt, pepper, and a light coating of olive oil. Roast for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of the carrots, until beginning to look slightly charred. Stir occasionally.

Remove from the oven into a separate bowl. Add a splash of balsamic, salt, and pepper.** Let sit for a few minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*Since I had smaller carrots, I cut them into match-stick like pieces. But, there is nothing wrong with bigger chunks of carrots, they will just take more like an hour to roast than 45 minutes.
**You can also add another splash of olive oil if you want.

A Carrot-Ginger Soup & a Tale for Halloween

Happy Halloween!
In honor of this holiday, I would like to tell you the scary tale of my first time cooking with fresh ginger.

Having prepped the onions and garlic for my carrot-ginger soup, it was time to be brave and face the spooky-looking root sitting on my cutting board.
Recalling the research I did in Joy of Cooking, I started peeling the root with a vegetable peeler.
It was all going really well, until...
Yes, that is a blue ring in the middle of the ginger.

Listen, when you are facing a new ingredient for the first time and you see a scary blue ring in it, it is okay to panic. In fact, if you think it is moldy, throw it in the trash bowl, run to the frig, grab a new piece of ginger, cut into it, only to be horrified at finding the same blue ring everywhere you look,
I understand.

So, there I was, aghast, thinking that carrot-ginger soup was doomed. But, before losing all hope, I ran to my computer and googled "blue ring ginger." Guess what?! There is a type of ginger called "Blue-Ring Ginger" (also called "Chinese white ginger"). Which means... it was supposed to be blue! Better yet, blue-ring ginger is apparently more juicy and tasty than other varieties. My bravery was rewarded: the soup was saved!

I retrieved the ginger from the trash bowl, finished peeling it, and minced it up.

And then I continued on my merry soup-making way.
So ends the story of how I made the acquaintance of fresh ginger.

Now, for this gorgeous carrot-ginger soup. The balance from the heat of the ginger, the sweet of the carrot, and the tang from the orange is outstanding. The ginger, especially, gives everything a warmth and depth that is gorgeous.

After you have prepped the onions, ginger (phew!), and garlic, start by sauteing the onions and ginger.
In the meantime, prep your carrots. Peel them,
and slice them.
(should you have any aggression, slicing up carrots is a great way to get it out).

Right before the onions and ginger are done, throw in the garlic so it doesn't burn.
Now, add those carrots to the pot.
And give it a good pinch of salt and pepper. I find it is really important to season every layer of a soup, so it doesn't come out bland in the end. Start with the onion stage, and continue seasoning each layer.
Cover the carrots with stock.
Bring that to a boil, and let it simmer for 30 minutes until the carrots are tender.
Break out your immersion blender, and blend it all up.

How Halloween is this orange?
Next, add in your orange juice,
and (if you want) your milk or cream. Both the orange juice and the milk help thin the soup out and give it a silky texture.
Let that cook for 5 minutes, and then add in (one of my favorites) freshly grated nutmeg.
Taste for seasoning and you are done!
For the garnish, I thought to myself, now I know carrots love raisins and carrots love cashews, so why not make a raisin-cashew pumpkin for a Halloween garnish?
Beside looking perfect for Halloween, the flavors from the raisins and cashews were brilliant with the carrot, orange, and ginger. Halloween or not, the raisin-cashew garnish is a great way to go.

Once again, Happy Halloween!

Gingered Carrot Soup (adapted from epicurious.com)
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter*
1/2 cup minced onion (1/2 a medium onion)
1/4 cup minced peeled fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced**
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock (feel free to use vegetable stock)
4 cups sliced, peeled carrots (about 1 1/2 pounds)
salt and pepper

1/4 cup orange juice *** (more to taste)
1/2 cup half and half or milk **** (I used 1% organic milk)
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg *****

Raisins and cashews for garnish

Directions:
Heat oil and butter in a dutch-oven over medium heat. Add onion and ginger. Saute until onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Add in garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add sliced carrots, salt and pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to lower, cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and blend with an immersion blender (or blend in batches in a blender or food processor). Mix in orange juice and milk. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Mix in nutmeg. Season soup to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with raisins and cashews.

Can be prepared 1 day ahead.

*The original recipe calls for 2 T of vegetable oil
**The original recipe does not call for garlic. How could you leave it out?
*** The original recipe calls for 1 cup of orange juice. That is way too much. I used a 1/2 cup and thought it was a tad too sweet. Next time, I am going to start with 1/4 cup orange juice and add more to taste. Alternatively, you could just add the juice from an orange and that would avoid the sweetness problem.
****You don't have to use milk or half and half, I just thought it would give everything a nice texture.
*****The original recipe calls for 1/4 ground cinnamon. I am simply in love with nutmeg these days, so I changed it up. Feel free to do whatever you like