French Carrot Ginger Soup

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 lb. French carrots or 1.5 lbs. regular carrots, diced into small chunks
1 leek (bottom white portion only), diced
2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water
2 t grated fresh ginger
1 T extra virgin olive oil
salt
crème fraiche or sour cream and pine nuts for garnish

Dice leek (using only the bottom white portion) and wash thoroughly. Heat oil in saucepan over medium high heat and add leeks. Saute for about a minute to soften. Then add carrots (peeled and diced), broth and water. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a simmer. Cook until carrots are tender (when you can poke all the way through with a fork). About 30 to 45 minutes. When carrots are almost done, add grated ginger.

Remove pot from heat. With hand blender, puree carrots and other ingredients into a silky soup. (You can also place small batches into your blender.*) Add salt to taste.

Garnish with a dollop of crème fraiche or sour cream and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts.

Makes two servings. Serve with French toast with Herbs de Provence.

* Do not place hot liquid in blender. Let the stock cool first. And never fill blender or food processor by more than half.

TIP: The thickness of your diced carrots will determine how long you cook them at a simmer. The smaller the pieces, the faster they’ll become tender. In this recipe, I used baby French carrots. After I simmered them, the resulting puree was quite thick and creamy so it was fine as is and didn't require any heavy cream or milk. (I also knew I’d be adding a spoon of crème fraiche to my bowl of soup so that helped make it creamier.) But if you puree your carrots and you feel the stock is too thin, then you can either add a slurry of water and flour or fat-free half-and-half to thicken your soup.

TOAST WITH HERBS DE PROVENCE: To keep with the French theme of the French carrot soup, I took a baguette and sliced it diagonally to create long, angled slices. Then I spread some unsalted butter and sprinkled it with Herbs de Provence and sea salt. I placed the slices in my oven at 400 degrees for a couple of minutes until golden brown.