Carrot Ginger Soup

Here I am!  It's been far too long since I've posted but I blame that on the absurdly warm weather New York has been having and my recent birthday festivities.  I've still been here, cooking and reading and crafting. 

The temperatures here have finally fallen back within the normal springtime range and it seems like a perfect time for a carrot soup.  Ok, I sort of made that up--I don't really go around figuring out the perfect time for carrot soup ( I think I've only had it once before).  The thing is, our latest CSA delivery has left us with oodles and oodles of carrots in our vegetable drawer.  I checked out a carrot bread, carrot cake, and carrot curry recipe but none of them required more than 4 or 5 carrots per recipe.  I needed to use a lot of carrots, not just a few.....I'm talking about pounds and pounds of carrots here!  Mollie Katzen to the rescue (as always!).  Although I wouldn't say this was my favorite recipe, it is very healthy and quite filling.  Interestingly, it comes out less of a soup and more of a velvety sauce, it sort of looks like a curry.  I ate it with rice and tempeh that I marinated and baked. My roommate ate it with corn tortillas.

• 2 lbs. carrots (I used about 6 cups of sliced carrots)
• 4 cups water (you'll need to add more later)
• 1 1/2 c. sliced onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger (peeled, chopped, and pureed)
• 1/4 tsp of: dried mint, cumin, cinnamon, and crushed fennel seed
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 cup of cashews, lightly toasted 

1. Chop up all those carrots and put in a big pot with the water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender (about 10-15 min).
2. Chop up the onions and throw them in with the carrots.  Add the garlic and ginger, simmer another 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the spices and the lemon, let simmer for another 5-7 minutes, meanwhile toast the cashews lightly.
4. Blend everything together in a blender or food processor--it might be necessary to do this in batches.
5. Serve with some sort of carb on the side.


My notes about this recipe: I think this is a good side dish.  We attempted to eat it as dinner and I think it was a little over powering.   But it was still yummy and filling and a nice way to us up all our carrots!!  Oh and it made me covet one of those immersion blenders.  That would be so much easier than using a blender, but there's always next time!!

Here are a few photos:

 For those of you who don't know tempeh, you should!  It is a soy product, sort of a cousin of tofu.  Now I know not every loves tofu, but tempeh is tofu's smarter, better looking cousin!  It's texture is much more palatable to those who don't like tofu--it's sort of the consistency of sausage.  Also, it comes in lots of varieties (this one is 5 grain) AND it doesn't have some of the negative qualities linked to other soy products.  Now I'm no scientist, but I've read a lot about how soy mimics estrogen in people's bodies and can make your body react negatively because it thinks that you are getting a surge of hormones.  Don't quote me on this (since I'm not an expert) but I've read that tempeh doesn't have those qualities....something about how it is produced differently than other soy products.   Like tofu, tempeh is highly amenable to marinades--mine was oil, soy sauce, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.  Bake it in the oven at 400 for 10-15 minutes and you're all set.

Enjoy!