meatless monday: carrot ginger soup

Winter isn’t exactly the season everyone thinks of when they think farmer’s markets, but the bounty of root vegetables and hearty greens is enough to keep me happy until the fruits of summer return. Purple carrots are a seasonal favorite. Often, I think that it’s because of pure aesthetics that I gravitate to purple carrots, but the more I eat them, I genuinely believe there’s something more to it. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I can’t get enough of them.

This soup recipe comes courtesy of one of my favorite bloggers, Joy the Baker. I love her recipes, but her food styling and writing brings me back time and again. How can you not love a blog post entitled “Don’t be a Sexy Panda for Halloween“. I’m going to add that to this list of things I’m writing to my 18-year old self–it’s actually becoming a long list, turns out a have some choice words for that chickee.

But more relevant is her recipe for carrot ginger soup. I kid you not when I say that I had just purchased some purple carrots for the sole purpose of making carrot ginger soup and logged into my Google Reader before searching for recipes. First recipe to pop up? Carrot ginger soup. Funny and clairvoyant–nuts!

So, whether you are enjoying spring-like weather or a cold front, make this soup. And make it with purple carrots, if you can. Heating up leftovers at work and getting weird looks as someone thinks you’re reheating blueberry soup is pretty awesome.

carrot ginger soup
from Joy the Baker

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons minced ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 4-5 cups diced carrots, preferably purple carrots
• 3 cups vegetable broth, keep more on hand to thin soup as needed
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add ginger and saute for another 4-5 minutes, until softened and fragrant.
4. Add coriander, cayenne pepper and diced carrots.  Stir to incorporate.
5. Add vegetable broth, reduce heat, and simmer mixture until carrots are completely softened, about 30 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
7. Using a blender, blend soup in batches until smooth.  If you have an immersion blender, simply blend in the pot. If you don’t have an immersion blender, please think about whether or not your life is complete without one. I know mine isn’t and doesn’t everyone deserve a life complete with an immersion blender? I think so.
8. Once blender, stir in coconut milk and add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Optional: I thought my soup was on the thick side for what I wanted when completed, so I added more broth until I reached the desired thickness. I found myself thinning it out again when reheating. I recommended keeping some extra vegetable broth on hand to do this.