Meatless Meals #4: Carrot and Ginger Soup

This came out of our garden:

So naturally, I had to find something cool to do with all of this deliciousness!

When I had Scarlet, someone brought us a dinner of carrot soup. I had never had it before--and it was amazingly delicious! I decided we definitely needed to try some!

So I went with some carrot ginger soup.

You just melt some butter in your stock pot, then once it's bubbly add the onions until they are soft. Then add the garlic for about 30 seconds. Put in the (peeled and roughly chopped!) carrots and a pinch of salt, coat the with the mixture, and add about 2 cups of chicken stock. Then bring to a boil. After it hits a boil, bring it down to a simmer and cover--cook for about 20 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

After that you can stick it all in a blender. OR! You can your your totally awesome immersion blender to do the same thing in a very easy way! That is what I chose to do :-)

After it's blended to the desired consistency (I actually really like a few chunks!) add 3-4 more cups chicken stock and some ginger zest. 

Garnish with some creme fraiche or sour cream and parsley. Yum yum!

I also toasted some whole wheat rolls to dip in the soup. Just stuck them in on broil for a few minutes. 

Soup, bread, and a little fruit makes an amazing meatless meal!

Even the baby loved the soup!

Here is the recipe from Home with Her

INGREDIENTS
12 carrots (peeled and roughly cut)
2 tablespoons of butter
1 sweet onion (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
6 cups of chicken stock
salt + pepper (to taste)
ginger (grated)
creme fraîche
parsley

Slowly melt the butter in your stock pot.  Add the diced onion and cook until it becomes soft and translucent (aka "sweating").  Add the garlic, stirring often for about 30 seconds.  Toss in the carrots and a pinch of salt, stir to coat the carrots well with the mixture.  Add about 2 cups of your stock to the pot (the stock should cover the carrots, if not add more stock).  Cover the pot and bring to a boil.  Once it begins boiling lower to a simmer.  Re-cover and cook for about 20 minters or until the carrots are tender when pierced with a knife. Uncover, remove from the heat and let the soup cool.  Once cooled transfer to a blender and blend well until everything is well pureed.  Reheat the soup, add 3-4 cups of stock to thin the soup out (amount based on personal preference--we liked our soup a bit on the thicker side so adding 3 cups of stock was perfect).  Stir in the ginger zest (to taste).  Top with a dollop of creme fraîche, sprinkle of parsley and a couple grinds of pepper.  Serve with some toasted baguette for dipping.  

Happy Eating!