Roasted Carrot Soup with Ginger

Without offering too many excuses, I have been a little busy lately and have held off from blogging.  It’s good to recharge those batteries and see what else is going on in “real life”.
So back to the drawing board.
I don’t know about you but sometimes I tend to go overboard with my fruit and vegetable purchases.  I tend to stock up on certain items thinking that a food famine is just around the corner!  Recently I had bought a few too many carrots and had used them in a number of ways but every time I opened the fridge, there they were still lying in the bottom of the crisper!
The weather has been really confusing here.
We had a few unseasonally hot days with really cool windy nights.    I really wanted to use the last of the carrots so I decided to make them into a soup.
I wanted their natural sweetness to shine and I did this by roasting them with some honey and a hint of cumin.  Roasting the carrots allowed them to naturally caramelise.
They could have easily been served as a side dish to a nice roast but I wanted to play it simple.  I also added some ginger to give the soup a bit of a kick.  A perfect marriage!

 

Roasted Carrot Soup with Ginger Recipe type: Appetiser Author: Peter G Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 50 mins Serves: 2-4 A warming soup with a slightly, spicy kick Ingredients 4 large carrots chopped into even chunks 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp cumin powder salt and pepper to season 1 eschalot, minced 1 tbsp olive oil 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger cream and parsley to garnish Instructions Preheat your oven to 180 deg C Toss the carrot pieces with the olive oil, honey, cumin and salt and pepper. Place in a tray and bake in the oven for 20-30 mins or until the carrots have caramelized and cooked through. (they should feel tender). In a large pot add the olive oil and saute the minced eschalot until it becomes translucent. Add the cooked carrot, stock and ginger and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) mix everything up until it becomes smooth. Garnish with a little cream and chopped fresh parsley Notes As an alternative, garnish with freshly chopped coriander (cliantro) if you prefer.