One hundred things to make with carrots...

[fiona marshall]

Ok. Not a hundred, but some! Nancy asked for carrot recipes. I feel these are a cheat because they are so simple. The main thing is making good stock. I save all my leftover bits of veggies in a big bowl in the fridge and simmer them slowly for a good 2-3 hours on a Sunday until I get stock, and I never use too much cabbage in it - too overpowering.

If I have *loads* of leftovers (for example when I've had houseguests or bought too much by mistake..) I have a few stock pots on at the same time. Once I have stock & have removed the 'dead' veggies I combine all the pots, pour in a bottle of sake and let it reduce very slowly until I have a really thick, syrupy, concentrated stock which I freeze in ice cube trays and use for richer dishes - only in winter, too strong for summer, and works better with strong vegetable flavours like mushroom - overpowers delicate ones. Although if I'm knocking up a quick 'leftovers risotto' it's handy for throwing in to give it a bit of 'oomph'.

Anyway.. things to do with carrots!

Carrot soups:-

All my carrot soups start with
- 3 cups stock (not water, most of these taste too thin otherwise)
- one diced onion
- six medium carrots, sliced
- a pinch of sea salt

Which you boil up for 20 minutes, and then puree. This is a nice, plain 'everyday' soup on its own. I almost always have the ingredients in for it, and like to take it to work with a couple of slices of sourdough bread.

My favourite varieties are to add:-

Carrot and orange:-
Juice and 2 teaspoons zest of an orange

Carrot and ginger (great for winter to stave off colds and sniffles):-
In the last two minutes of cooking, add two teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger.

Carrot and barley:-
one cup of leftover cooked pot barley

Carrot and turnip:-
add one cup of turnip (diced small) at beginning of process

'Cream' of carrot:-
add half a cup of rolled oats at the beginning, and a little more salt, and once pureed the soup will have a nice creamy texture

Celebration soup:-

Make standard carrot soup. In a seperate pan, make a stir fry consisting of half a leek, sliced into very thin half moons; a clove of garlic, minced; half a cup very small broccolli florets; a couple of leaves pak choi, sliced, larger parts of stem removed.

Stir fry in a neutral tasting oil like sunflower. (I've tried using sesame to see if it added anything, but it was too overpowering)

Before serving, swirl a dash of soy sauce and a dash of mirin into each bowl of soup (swirl it right to the edges so it looks pretty!) and gently place the veg on top so they half float in the soup.


My absolute favourite soup has nothing to do with carrots!

Mushroom barley soup:-

2 cups stock. one diced onion (as ever). Boil up with 3 cups whole mushrooms, wiped but not peeled, and left whole.

Add a good pinch of sea salt, one tablespoon soy, one tablespoon mirin, and then puree it. It should come out very thick, almost like a puree more than a soup.

Then add one cup of pressure cooked barley. (volume cooked, not raw).

This is great coming in from a long walk in the cold, when you are really hungry!

Fi

[rebeccanatalie]

Oh, these recipes sound so yummy! [Thanks for posting them.] Especially the mushroom barley -I guess carrot soups have been a bit overplayed around here lately too! But one little thing that I'd like to add- I heard a macrobiotic teacher say that it's not really miso soup if it didn't have a garnish! So then I realized that I hadn't usually put that little bit of chopped parsley, scallion or watercress in the bowl of soup. I must say now - what a wonderful difference it makes! [I am just thinking that perhaps chives would be easy to grow in a pot- for a quick snip of organic garnish all winter. ]

Happy Cooking,
Rebecca