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.