The humble carrot. Often eaten raw, as a snack, or shredded and hidden in some sort of heavily dressed unappetizing “thing” (can’t even call it food). Sometimes thrown into a soup or stew and pulled out and thrown away when it’s done. It’s like the red headed stepchild of the vegetable world, just plain under appreciated. This recipe is here to change that. This recipe was adapted from a sauce used for softshell crabs at some really famous golf resort I worked at. (I’ll give you a hint, the Rider Cup is held there). It was a huge seller everywhere I went and as almost everything i do, extremely versatile.
3 lb. carrots, peeled and rough cut (y’know, just chunks)
1 c. thin sliced onion
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp grated ginger
2 qt. chicken stock or vegetable stock
2 tbs sage, chiffonade (so roll up the leaves and slice them really thin)
- You’ve made enough soups with me that you know what kind of pot we’re starting in right? Yup. Heavy bottom pot. Start the onions and garlic on low heat, in about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sweat these out for about 10 minutes.
- Add your carrots. Sweat these for about 5 minutes then add your stock.
- Bring the stock up to a oil and bring the pot down to a simmer.
- Add your ginger and keep simmering for about 30 minutes until the carrots are tender
- Start pulling out the vegetables with a slotted spoon and dropping them into the blender. Add just enough liquid form the pot to puree the vegetables. how do you figure that out? Well you start by puling the blender, adding a little at at time, and when you have enough, let the blender rip for about two minuted.
- When all of the soup is pureed, add any liquid that hasn’t been put into the blender, into the soup. Add the sage and let it steep for just a minute before serving.
Now you can’t just eat this on it’s own, it needs a complement. Any seafood works very well with this. Shrimp, crab, lobster…it’s all good. I’ve also some small pieces of fried cod, or even a zeppoli with baccalao if you’re feeling excited (for those of you not from my native part of the country, that’s a savory doughnut with salt cod in it, AWESOME!!!!!!) The best part about this, is it’s a hot or cold soup. Serve it either way. You can even add half a cup of heavy cream if you want some richness. You got questions? No problem, leave it in the comments, I’ll get to you.
Happy Eating
-The Doctor