Spicy Carrot Soup with Cilantro-Lime Puree

It’s that time of year, friends. There’s a singular nip in the air most mornings. My cat wants to spend every waking moment roaming down by the river. I bought a long sleeved shirt and broke out an extra blanket for the bed. Finally, today, I turned the heat on. Autumn is here, and it’s soup time.

It’s also cold season. My husband caught a cold and passed it to me. I promptly passed it back to him, worse than I received it. Yes, soup was needed in this house. Still feeling lethargic, I wanted to make a soup that was easy, tasty, and packed with nutrients. Carrots, then! Carrots, besides bearing bright-orange beta carotinoids, are chock full of vitamins A, C (goodbye, colds!), K, potassium, thiamin, niacin, fiber, plus other good stuff. Coupled with ginger, which has anti-inflammatory properties and boosts immune system performance, I figured the carrots in this soup would hit my cold with a knockout punch.  I threw in some other warming spices, including a healthy amount of my garam masala to give the soup a gentle, warming spice. Yum! To contrast with the aromatic spices in the soup, I made a simple cilantro lime puree to drizzle on top. It was great, but if you’re not feeling the effort, just sprinkle on some chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime.  Or drizzle on some sesame oil.  Whatever speaks to you.

The cilantro-lime purée spoke to me.

Both soup and purée tasted great too. I liked the minimal effort they took, and I loved getting to break out my immersion blender. Do you have one of those? Because if not, you must get one. I have had mine since last Christmas. I kept putting off using it, assuming it would be difficult to clean or a pain to use. Nay, nay – I was wrong. It was easy, it was fun, and it was so easy to clean. If you have one, use it. Use it often. If you don’t, then buy one. They range from $30-$100. It’s worth every penny. I use this Cuisinart (a $30 model), and I am already planning more soups just so I can use it more.

Since I figured this won’t be the only cold I get this season, I made a great big pot of this soup and froze half of it.  The great thing about too much soup is getting to put some away for when you need it again.  And next time, I’ll have nothing to do but warm it on the stove.

Spicy Carrot Soup with Cilantro-Lime Puree

• 1 T peanut oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1″ piece of ginger, grated
• 4 C water
• 1 1/2 lbs carrots
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garam masala

Wash carrots and peel if using conventional, non-organic carrots.  Cut the carrots in 1″ pieces and set aside.  Heat peanut oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the onion, ginger, and garlic.  Saute until the onion is soft and translucent, stirring occasionally to keep the garlic from burning.  When the onions are soft, add the carrots to the pot and pour in the water.  Add the salt, red pepper, soy sauce, garam masala, lime juice and sesame oil– reserving the lime zest.  Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat so that the soup stays at an active simmer.  Cook this way for 20-30 minutes, until the carrots are easily pierced with a fork and soft.  Remove from heat.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup.  I like to leave a bit of texture but remove any chunks of solid vegetable.  If you want a silkier texture, puree the soup in batches in a conventional blender.  When the soup is blended, stir in the lime zest and taste for seasoning.  Add salt, if needed, until the carrot flavor is bright.  Serve drizzled with cilantro-lime puree.

Serves 4.

Cilantro-Lime Purée

• 1 1/2 C cilantro leaves, washed and packed
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 2 T peanut or other neutral tasting oil
• pinch of salt

Using an immersion blender, purée the ingredients together until they are smooth.  Add a bit more oil or water as needed to achieve a thin consistency that is easily drizzled.

Makes about 1 C of purée.

Tangy Mushroom Barley Soup

You may have seen a blurb on the news Sunday or Monday about seven inches of snow getting dumped on north Georgia. No? Well, seven inches of snow got dumped on north Georgia. I know. Maybe you live in Buffalo and get six foot deep drifts annually. Maybe you live in Chicago and it snows all the time. I am sure that our measly seven inches is barely impressive, and I am sure that many of you have been without power for more than 1 day because of bad weather. (I’ve been through that before; growing up in Savannah a hurricane could knock out power for days). But, I am going to whine anyway. It was cold. It snowed. I have more fingers on my hands than times my eyes have seen snow. I live in the South. My town doesn’t have snow plows and has to get salt for roads imported from other towns. Snow, in the South, sucks.

You may wonder what this has to do with food. Well, plenty. By the time my power came back on and I defrosted, I was hungry. I wanted a hot shower, and I wanted hot food. So, I promptly got some takeout. People, the need was urgent. After I felt revived, though, I was ready to make good use of that electricity and make something delicious and warming. Something like soup.

Soup it was. I came up with this recipe in an effort to clean a lot of stuff out my pantry: porcini mushrooms, paprika (mostly used up), chicken stock, shallots, barley. I have lots of good stuff squirreled away, but I’ve got to get it used. This urgency, as you may or may not know, is because I am moving to Virginia in a few months.

And yes, that means I am going to have to deal with evil, nasty snow much more often. I have got one hell of a snow-preparation list going, believe you me. Next time the power goes out, I’ll be firing up the party generator. And, the next time I deal with snow, there will almost certainly be a pot of this for dinner. This soup warms the body and the tastebuds. It’s tangy, filling, and completely delicious. Served with crusty bread, this makes a fantastic meal.

Feel like making a Hungarian themed meal out of this? Make some Hungarian Cucumber Salad as a side.

Tangy Mushroom Barley Soup

• 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 1/2 C water
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 C shallots (2-3), chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 C sliced cremini mushrooms (about 4 oz.)
• 1 C pearled barley
• a splash of white wine
• 1 T dill
• 1 T paprika 
• 1 1/2 C water or stock (chicken, vegetable, or mushroom)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T soy sauce
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Boil a cup and a half of water and soak the dried porcini mushrooms in it.  Start by sauteing the base of the soup.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat.  Saute the shallots until they are translucent, then add the garlic and continue sauteing until it takes on some light color.  Add in the mushrooms and brown them – let them release water, let the water cook off, and let them get tender and brown – about 3-5 minutes.  Drizzle in a little bit more olive oil and brown the barley.  Stir frequently for the next three minutes until the barley is toasted, then deglaze the pan with a splash of wine.  Cook the wine off.  

Drain the porcini mushrooms reserving the liquid, chop them roughly, and toss them in the pot.  Add in the dill, the paprika, the bay leaf, and the soy sauce.  Season with some salt and some black pepper.  Pour in the remaining stock.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat.  Simmer uncovered for 30-35 minutes, until the barley is done.  Add more stock or water at the end to achieve the consistency you want, and check the seasonings to see if you need more salt or pepper.

Serve with lemon wedges and a sprinkling of fresh dill.

Serves 3-4.

French Onion Soup

We’ve had a cold snap lately; the thermostat dropped below freezing for the better part of two days.  This is a rather amazing occurance, and I thought we might get our single, annual ice storm.  We didn’t, but it left me craving something rich, warm, and satisfying.  I had planned to make samosas with cilantro-mint chutney all week.  Unfortunately, like the wizard I often am, I left my recipe notebook at work.  I logged over sixty hours this week — spring classes just started up — and I had made my grocery list there when I could steal away for a few minutes.  So, I had a kitchen full of all the wrong ingredients.  Tragic.  Surveying what I had, though, I noticed some beautiful organic onions that Jeremy had brought home one day when he had made a run to the grocery store for me.  Something had to be done with these; something like french onion soup.

French onion soup is that richly delicious treat from Parisian bistro cuisine.  It’s a great showcase for the humble onion, and it’s perfect for a cold day.  Deeply caramelized onions meet with a flavorful broth and garlicky, cheesy croutons.  It’s an easy introduction to French cooking, and it tastes impressive.  As its flavors are very simple, the ingredients make it imperative that you choose them for quality.  As such, find the best onions you can.  Yellow onions are a better choice that sweet onions, as the standard Spanish onion actually has a higher sugar content.  Higher sugar equals better caramelization, so save your pennies on the Vidalias and Maui Sweets.  

For the wine and the sherry, make sure you use alcohol you would actually drink.  Using that vile “cooking wine” and “cooking sherry” will ruin the flavors of the soup.  If you don’t have wine or sherry on hand that you would actually drink, skip them.  You can deglaze the pan with water and add balsamic vinegar in place of the sherry for a little bite.  This soup can easily be made vegan, also.  Use a great homemade vegetable stock, and skip the cheese on the garlic toasts.  Rather than covering soup-filled ramekins with cheese and broiling it, I top the soup with cheese toasts and pass additional cheese for sprinkling.  This allows everyone to adjust cheese content to their liking — or even leave it off completely.  

Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tonight I needed to clean a few things out of the kitchen.  I had some left over roast chicken and some veggies.  I had intended to make a chicken noodle soup because Susan’s over at SGCC looked so good.  Then I noticed some chips and salsa that had magically appeared on the counter, and decided to spice things up a little.  This is an easy soup – done in an hour.  It needs no blending and no straining, just some chopping and simmering.  The amount of chicken you put in is very flexible.  I didn’t have a lot left – just scraps off two breasts. This soup stretched it beautifully.  More chicken certainly wouldn’t hurt, but it’s not a necessity.  This disappeared pretty quickly, so I’d say it must be acceptably tasty.  The soup is warm and tangy.  I’d suggest serving this with a sprinkle of cheese and maybe a dollop of sour cream.

Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

 

• Left over chicken with bones, enough to produce 1 C of roughly chopped meat
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 T parsley, chopped
• 2 T soy sauce
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2-3 handfuls tortilla chips, crushed
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 T hot sauce
• 2 T chopped cilantro
• crushed tortilla chips
• extra virgin olive oil

Cut most of the chicken away from the bones, removing whatever comes away easily.  Place the remaining bones with scraps of meat still attached in a heavy stock pot.  Cover the bones with water, and place on the stove.  Bring to a boil.  While the water heats, chop the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Add the bay leaves and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and soy sauce.  Let this simmer for 45-50 minutes.  Then, add the crushed tortilla chips, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes, stirring to mix the paste into the broth.  Add some sugar to cut the tang of the canned tomatoes. Season with coriander, cumin, chili powder, and oregano.  Let this simmer another 5-10 minutes.  Remove the chicken bones and discard.  Stir in the hot sauce.  Serve with fresh cilantro sprinkled on top and a mound of crushed tortilla chips in the center of the bowl.  Drizzle the soup with a bit of olive oil and serve.

Serves 2-4.