We’ve been good at eating our lunches at home, eating out on the mountain is expensive. We’ve also been good at not relying too heavily on high carb and fats for lunches (read a chunk of baguette with an appropriate slab of cheese). So soups are de rigueur.
There have been plenty of mixed veggie soups and broths, lentil-daal soups, the other day saw a green soup of sprouts and spinach, today we are orange in colour.
But firstly a word about carrots, for some unearthly reason we bought carrots from the supermarket. Mistake! We are not good at supermarket shopping, we usually avoid them like the plague at home, besides we grow lots of our own veggies, including carrots. What I’m getting round to saying is that these carrots have such a high water content and low flavour content. It’s been a reminder for us as to how delicious home-grown carrots are, and not to buy them from the supermarket again. If we really want carrots then we have to go to a better shop, which sells organic and heritage varieties that have been grown for their flavour and not their looks, uniformity and shelf-life. Yes they will cost more, yes there is a car journey involved. But the taste test is everything to me.
So what to do with tasteless carrots, soup was in my mind, but I knew if I just cooked them up in some vegetable stock the carrots would still be flavourless. So I needed to add flavour, and by roasting, or if you don’t want to put the oven on, pan frying them slowly with a teeny amount of olive oil or butter will get some flavour into them.
I love roasted veggies, particularly carrots and celery, together with a knob of butter and a grind of black pepper. And this soup reminds my of those flavours, slightly sweet and aromatic. And now I’ve thought of this when I next go shopping I want to see if there are any decent celery, not that hot-house hydroponic stuff that has less flavour than a glass of water, but the good deep green kind, with evidence of once having been grown in soil.
It seems I’m having a gingery few days what with Gingery Brussels Sprouts and now this soup.
Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup
The recipe bit ~
Makes 4 small portions
- 250g of carrots about 3-4 large carrots, topped and tailed, and cut into long chunks for roasting
- 1 tbls of olive oil
- 1 shallot, peeled, and sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
- A 1 to 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- Approx 1/2 litre of vegetable stock
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- A few coriander leaves for a garnish
The how to cook bit ~
- Put the carrots into an ovendish with the olive oil, make sure they are lightly coated. Cover them with a lid or some tinfoil.
- Cook them on a medium to high oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. They should be soft, and have a deeper colour, slightly browned is ok.
- Alternatively pan fry the carrots on a low heat for about 20 minutes until they are soft and have browned around the edges
- When the carrots are cooked, put them into a pan on the stove, along with the garlic, ginger and shallots and fry them for a few minutes until the other vegetables are cooked
- Add the vegetable stock and bring it to a simmer. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- I have a stick blender, so I whizz the soup mixture up in the pan, until everything has been “whizzed” and the soup is smooth.
- Check the seasonings, and adjust.
- When ready to serve chop a few coriander leaves and sprinkle them on top.
The Gardening Bit ~
I love growing carrots, there are so many wonderful varieties out there, different colours from deep purples, orange-reds, pale oranges, and yellows, and whites. Let alone shapes, from short stubby ones to long slender, and fat ones. There are carrots for different seasons – earlies, summer and lates. Then there are the flavours, now I am no expert, they are all good to me! And as I’m still sorting my seed order for this year Touchon and Mokum will be on the list as will Yellowstone and Jaune Obtuse de Doubs, and Lunar White, Cosmic Purple sounds fun too and D’Eysines, a short stubby variety sounds like it would be good to grow as an inter-crop and a companion to the garlic – it should be able to cope with my heavy soil and will hopefully avoid any carrot fly problems grown alongside the alliums. The rest of the carrots will be grown in boxes, with a high sand content, that have proved, so far, a successful way of growing nice long carrots that don’t suffer from carrot fly damage.
I love roasted carrots and ginger and would probably like this soup — if I can get to it because we love carrots and usually eat them raw. I have tried to grow carrots unsuccessfully, despite buying horticultural sand and lightening our heavy clay soil with it. Also, there is a noxious weed that looks just like carrot tops, so every time I think I have been successful and pull up my “carrots” I have found them to be just another weed invasion. Sigh. If I had more time and sun and devoted myself exclusively to gardening I just might learn to raise carrots in ten years. Purple carrots are wonderfully sweet — at least the varieties we get from the farm.
I love carrot salads too, and would definitely prefer to eat them like that. Every time I’m in the supermarket I see ready prepared carrot salads, I just can’t bring my self to buy them 🙂
But heck, I manage to grow a few carrots (sometimes) whilst you on the other hand are a wonderful painter, I’d swap for that !
Well, thank you for that compliment, Claire.
It’s a pleasure! !
I agree with the strategy of eating more soups, especially with healthy veggies in them, at this time of year. Ginger would give the carrots a bit of zing as usually they’re sweeter than I care for in a soup.
Yes Zing is the word. and carrot soup seems lighter than a lot of other soups, so perfect for a lunch when you can’t have a nap afterwards 🙂
Lovely – I bought myself a big bag of carrots today and was deciding what kind of soup to make with them…now I am inspired!
Fabulous, you’ll have to let us know how you prepare them 🙂 corriander? Orange? Curry? Oh heck I’m getting the munchies now 🙂
Sounds delicious! I’ll have to buy an immersion blender this weekend!
It was. And you can puree it with any old blender or processor, it’s just here in this apartment that’s what I have. But I do like them, they re nice and easy to use (and clean!)
A beautiful way to infuse life into supermarket blandness. Not that almost *anything* isn’t improved with a dose of ginger!
You know after I wrote this post, I look at in and it sounds, well, a bit smug to me. And I realise how lucky I am to be able to grow veggies or buy great veggies. And I relaise not everyone is able to do that. So I think, on reflection I’d change the wording. But it is great, with some imagination, how you can improve on the raw ingredients we have.
I love roasted carrots and I can imagine how roasting them intensified the flavor in this soup. The ginger is a nice touch too. Love those photos!!!
Hi thanks for the thumbs up on the recipe and the photos, I love wathcing the cloud in the valley
Mmmm…still have carrots in the garden….soup sounds good!
I usually grow Touchon – it always produces well up here.
Oh Marie you are a great gardener to have carrots in the garden at this time, I really mucked up my late sowings (of practically everything) this year!
This sounds great. Carrot and ginger soup is truly one of my favourites.
Pleased you like it Frugal 🙂
Sounds delicious and aromatic. Bet it tastes great.
Hi Ruth, yes it did taste great, I still have some left for my lunch today
I agree that carrots from the grocery are bland and try to pick them up from the Farmer’s Market. Even if I had room in our yard I can’t imagine how long it would take me to ammend the rich black clay soil for root vegetables!
Sounds like a few of you have this heavy black clay. Clay is a toughie to garden with but at least it is rich in nutrients!
I miss the farmers markets for the very reasons you’ve mentioned. This recipe you’ve shared with us sounds just great, especially with the inclusion of ginger. Warm, filling, but not heavy. Perfect for a Winter’s lunch!
Hi John this soup did make a nice change as it is definitely less hearty than the others. I still have some left for today and I might just freshen it up a bit, maybe with some orange or a bit more ginger 🙂
Great photos, Claire. Thank you for commenting on my blog! I hate tasteless plastic vegetables too! Such a waste of time.
BTW, carrots are a carb too (I wouldn’t have mentioned but you did write that you were trying to low carb)! I was shocked too! It’s the sugar in them.
Thank you Eva, it seems every where I look there is a potential photo.
Now she slaps her forhead and says Doh! You are so right and thanks for the reminder! But I guess what I was trying to say, and managed it so clumsily, was that for me it was a good lunch as it didn’t have the heavy bread, pasta or rice that we tend to rely on here. Oh, and thanks for popping in 🙂
This sounds delicious and will definitely be making some this week. I, too, love growing carrots and until I started doing that I had no idea how many varieties of carrots there are. I store them in dry sand over the winter so that we have fresh carrots all year.
Hi, and thank you. I’ve never got round to storing them in sand, it sounds like a very practical way to store them. I ten dto blanch and freeze them, but I really should get round to trying it as I’d love to have some for using raw in salads. Claire
I’ve got a big bag of carrots – soup it is. Think I’ll add a little orange zest for another touch of flavor. My 17 year old is having her wisdom teeth pulled today and soup will be about all she can handle for dinner – glad I stopped by.
Wisdom teeth removal, how I remember that! I had to have a full anasthetic for mine, plus some other dental work at the same time and my mum had made soup for my return, and had also bought straws for me to use. But I couldn’t use the straws as everything was way too swollen and numb. I remember having to hold the spoon near to my mouth and generally aim in that direction!
I hope your 17 year old is ok, it’s horrid but short lived, and I’m sure some home made soup will revive and comfort her 🙂
Those photos of the mountains are so beautiful. And I love carrot soup but yes, you have to be careful as to where you buy your carrots. If I’m making carrot soup I’ll try to buy organic carrots because they have the best flavour.
Hi there and thanks, being in the mountains is an amazing experience, so much beauty around us. It’s all very magical. And I’m glad you liked the soup recipe, it’s a nice easy one to make.
Claire, this is really clever! I roast pumpkins before I make soup, but I’d never thought to do the same thing with carrots! Thank you! 🙂
Thank you Celia, that is praise indeed 🙂 Hmmmmm, we still have a couple of pumpkins to use up…….
Beautiful snowy images. I love the idea of carrot soup enlivened with some warming ginger.
Ginger does give it a warmth so it’s perfect for warming cold bones after a walk !
With all that snow, some warming carrot and ginger soup with some hearty crusty bread sounds the perfect ending to your day. BAM
Hi there, yes nice and warming and toasty! I’m trying to go easy on the bread, it’s so tempting here just to keep munching. More bread means more exercise and longer steeper hills to climb! And right now I could just snooze 🙂
It sounds delicious carrots and ginger go so well together
Hi, lovely to “see” you. carrots and ginger are great partners, I love this soup with fresh corriander as well.
I make a carrot and ginger soup, but I have never thought of roasting the carrots first–will need to try this! I put carrots from my CSA into sand and am storing them on my basement floor in the hope that they will still be good later into the winter–much better than grocery shopping!
Storing them in sand sounds the way to go, I must give it a try with some of this years crop, the idea of fresh carrots in the middle of winter is very temting!
Do different coloured carrots taste basically carroty? Could you tell from a blind tasting that a deep purple, orange-red, pale orange, yellow or white are all carrots?
My dog loves carrot too.
I think they all taste carroty. Maybe they differ but I don’t think my taste buds are that sophisticated! They just look nice on the plate. Our firends dogs love carrots too 🙂
Hi .. roasting carrots for soup, that sounds great & I’ll try that!
Mixing sand and clay, as I’ve recently learned results in a cement like texture.
Different types of carrots woulc be interesting also … there will be a seedy Saturday in Victoria on Feb 18 .. so I’ll look for some varieties there! thanks for the recipes!!
I’ve heard about people struggling to mix clay and sand, I’ve not experienced it mayself, but then I also add lots of humus and other natural materials into my soil, so there is always plenty of room for air and water to move around.
lucky you going to a seedy saturday, I was away for our local ones, and am gutted I missed them. But to be honest I have a ridiculous amount of seeds, it’s not like I NEED anymore! I hope you have a great time there 🙂