29. Gingered Carrot Soup

This recipe is from a book that I’ve had for a really long time, Moosewood Cookbook. I’ve only made a few things from it and I’m not sure I ever made anything REALLY good from it. Since it’s a vegetarian book I thought I might be able to find something that would fit in with our cleanse.

Gingered Carrot Soup

2 lbs carrots
4 cups water
1 Tablespoon butter
1 ½ cups chopped onion
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon each: cumin, ground fennel, cinnamon, allspice, dried mint
3 to 4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup lightly toasted cashews
Optional: buttermilk, to drizzle on top

1. Peel and trim carrots, and cut them into 1 inch chunks. Place in a medium large saucepan with the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer until very tender (about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the carrot pieces.)
2. Meanwhile heat the butter or oil in a small skillet. Add onions, and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, salt and spices. Turn heat to low, and continue to sauté for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until everything is well mingled and the onions are very soft. Stir in lemon juice.
3. Use a food processor or blender to puree everything together (including the toasted cashews). You will need to do this in several batches. Transfer the puree to a kettle, and heat gently just before serving. If desired, pass a small pitcher of buttermilk, for individual drizzling.

Changes and Shortcuts: I didn’t have any ground fennel on hand so I left it out. I used non-animal butter substitute, and left out the buttermilk (it was just to be used for drizzling). As I was typing the recipe I realized I forgot to add the lemon juice!


Results: The texture was strange. I imagined it would be creamy after putting it in the food processor, but it was sort of gritty. I’m sure with the lemon juice it would have a brighter taste. I think instead of the cashews, I would add peanut butter or tahini so it would be smoother. Because it was so thick, I added some rice milk.

Keeper? Don’t think so