Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup

I had this soup a few years ago at my friend's Andrew's house. It was so good that I went back for seconds. This is another easy, delicious soup that will make everyone you serve it to think that you are a master chef. It's cheap to make as well. Delicious doesn't always have to be expensive.


ROASTED CARROT & GINGER SOUP
2lb bag of carrots
1 Onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 Box of vegetable (or chicken) stock
1 cup of 35% cream
1 tbsp of fresh grated ginger
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste




METHOD:
-  Wash (but don't peel) the carrots and cut off the root end
-  Place the carrots in a pan, toss them with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 1 hour or until the are fork tender
-  Once the carrots are done, dice up the onion and the garlic and sweat them in a pot with some olive oil. Cook them, but do not brown them.
-  Chop up the roasted carrots into chunks and add them to the pot.
-  Add the stock until everything is just covered. If you don't have enough stock, top it up with water.
-  Bring the stock to a boil and then turn down the heat and allow the stock to reduce a little bit. At this point add the 35% cream.
-  Remove the pot from the heat. If you have an immersion (stick) blender, put it in the pot and blend it until everything is smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, transfer the soup to a regular blender. You will have to blend this in batches. Only add enough soup until the blender is about 1/3 full. The soup is very hot and if you add too much it will force the cover of the blender off and you will burn yourself. It is good practice to hold the top of the blender down using a dish towel. Transfer the blended soup to a large bowl and keep blending the soup in the pot until it is done.
-  Put the blended soup back in the pot on medium heat.
-  Check the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper as it is needed.
-  Grate about 1 tbsp of fresh ginger into the soup. Taste it, add more ginger if you like.
-  If the soup is too thick, add about 1/2 cup of water and stir. Repeat this process until it is at the desired thickness.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

I was walking through Superstore and saw a bag of 4 red peppers on sale for $2.29. I should have bought 2 bags at that price. That was the inspiration for this soup.

Red peppers are awesome, but they are even better when they are roasted. It's like the flavour is increased 10 fold when they are roasted.




The stars of the show

 

INGREDIENTS:

3 Red Peppers
3 Tomatoes

1 Litre Chicken Stock (or Vegetable Stock)

1 Onion
3 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1 Tbsp of Thyme

1 Tbsp of Basil

1 Tbsp of Oregano
1 Tsp of Smoked Paprika (optional - if you got it)

1 Tsp of Chili Flakes (if you like a little heat)

Cut the red peppers in half and remove the core and seeds. Roast at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the peppers turn black. You want the peppers to turn black. The blacker the better. It's just the skin that turns black and they get removed.

After the red peppers come out of the the oven, immediately put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them sit in the bowl while the tomatoes are roasting. After about 15 mins or so, remove the plastic wrap and peel the blackened skins off the peppers.

I used Hot House tomatoes that were pretty big so I cut them into quarters. If you are using smaller tomatoes, you can cut them in half. Coat them in olive oil and put them on the same baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.

This where the pictures end, but the rest is simple:

• In a pot, saute some an onion and the garlic in a some olive oil until they are soft, but not brown, about 5-7 minutes
• Add the red peppers and the tomatoes to the pot
• Add the litre of stock and simmer for about 15 minutes
• At this point the soup is ready to be blended. You can either use a stick blender or a regular blender. If you are using a regular blender, blend the soup in batches. Only fill the blender about 1/3 of the way full. Put the cover on, and hold it in place with a dish cloth. The hot soup in the blender could cause it to come off
• After the soup has been blender, put it through a strainer or a sieve. This will get rid the skins, seeds, pulp from the tomatoes, and also give it a nice smooth texture.

You can garnish this soup with some fresh basil, parmesan cheese, creme fraiche or sour cream.

This recipe produced about 4 bowls of soup.