Snow Food

Yesterday we were supposed to be hit with 8-12 inches of snow. I cleared my afternoon schedule and planned to hunker down for a snow day. Snow days are a treat, a day to play and tackle some at home projects, a few things at the home office and cook. I put on my apron and headed for the kitchen to make carrot ginger soup. The buckets of snow did not fall in my part of the state. I have to say I am sorely disappointed. But now I have beautiful gingery carrot soup.


Gingery Carrot soup is really easy to make and the variations are endless but here are the basics.
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, yellow or sweet vidalia
6-8 large carrots
fresh ginger root
4 cups water or soup stock either vegetable or chicken
Optional seasonings (adjust to suit your tastes, if using soup stock you may not need much, if using water you may want lots)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp curry
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp paprika

Adding a little celery and an apple could also be great flavors to add , but again optional.

Chop the onions into small chunks or dice depending on your texture preference. I use organic carrots- wash them, trim the ends and then test a piece to see if the outer peel is sweet enough. If its sweet I don't peel them because there are good nutrients that you get rid of in the peel. If , however you taste a bitter flavor in the peel than by all means , peel away. Then chop the carrots into chunks.

In your favorite soup pot, put in 2-3 tbsp olive oil, add the black pepper, thyme, curry, paprika.
Put the heat on enough for sauteing and put in your onions and carrots. Saute til onions are soft 3-5 min usually. While the onions and carrot are sauteing - peel and chop a good 2-3 inch chunk of ginger root- feel free to use more if you crave an intense ginger kick! Please note the chunks of ginger can be a little fibery- I don't mind this but if you do you can remove them once the soup is done. If you have a juicer you could also juice the ginger root and just add the juice to the soup.


Put the ginger in with the carrots and onion, add your 4 cups of water or stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 to 25 min. Remove from heat and let the soup cool. Get your handy blender out and when the soup has cooled enough, ladle the carrot and onion chunks into the blender, cover and puree. Pour back into soup pot. You can puree all the veggies or leave some chunky depending on how you like your textures.
Reheat the soup to desired temperature. Serve with a garnish of parsley or chive and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Winter Comforts- Chowder

Everyone has their favorite comfort foods. I have many. Wine, chocolate and pasta are in the top 5. Shrimp and grits vs. lobster mac-n-cheese are tied. Good soup or stew on a dreary, arctic day is a definite. As I write this it feels about 10 degrees out although the barometer says it is somewhere in the 20's. It's dour, grey, and there are flurries. I decided that really bright flowers and hot soup were needed to replace the sunshine I won't see until sometime tomorrow. Did I mention it's really dreary out?

I made chowder for the first time ever this week. I've eaten it so many times -corn, clam , scallop, monkfish., red, white, clear, New York, Newport , New England and Bahamian. How hard could it be?

It all started because I had made shrimp. Not just any shrimp - Whole Foods has fresh, wild-caught Maine shrimp in right now. They are so fresh and good I suggest you drop everything and go get some, really , they're that good! Steam them briefly - ask the guy at the counter and he will tell you the timing. It's barely 2-3 minutes. These are pink shrimp and they are beautiful. Season them with salt and pepper before steaming and save the water after . I used it to make the chowder.


This was one of those un -shopped-for ,hmm... what should I do with the shrimp broth? thoughts, that became lets make chowder. A quick consult to Joy of Cooking showed I was missing a few key things like cream and booze. Well, shoot, it's not Mardi Gras yet and half and half would just have to do.

Ever since having Bahamian monkfish chowder I like the idea of a little heat so I sauteed the onion, garlic,parsley and sweet potato chunks in olive oil with a generous dashes of Tabasco sauce. I used the regular Tabasco, but I'd be curious to taste the Chipotle Tabasco in the chowder-that would add a whole dimension on to the flavors, would it overwhelm the sweet corn and potato ? Perhaps I'll try that next time along with adding a bayleaf and bit of bourbon or sherry, but I digress...

After sauteing I added the shrimp broth leftover from steaming the shrimp and some leek broth, a little curry , thyme, paprika, more black pepper, micro-pinch of oregano, frozen corn niblets and simmered until the sweet potato is tender. I stirred in some half and half and the shelled cooked shrimp and simmered a bit more. The result: a yummy pot of spiced sunshine and a really warm belly. I'm going back for grateful seconds.