I got to pound something!

The warm weather is here in the northeast, but that doesn't stop me from making soup. I've already got one picked out for this weekend. Recently, a friend made carrot ginger soup for a potluck and it got into my head to make some of my own.

I've made it before, but I looked around for a new recipe just for fun. This one on Epicurious caught my eye because it includes lemongrass, which I hadn't considered or cooked with before. Previously I've used curry spices or cashews in carrot soups. Cashews add some body and a bit of protein, curry of course adds some nice warmth and spice.

So here's our recipe:

• 2 tablespoons ghee or olive oil I used olive oil 
• 1 1/2 cups diced onion
• 1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced carrots
• 2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger chopped ginger from a jar is also perfectly fine
• One 2-inch-long piece lemongrass, pounded
• 4 cups Chicken Bone Broth (if you don't make your own, store-bought is fine. Not everyone has time to make their ingredients)
• Sea salt (didn't bother, let your guests do this themselves. Onions add sodium, and I really didn't think the soup needed any)

1. 1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the ghee or olive oil. Add the onion and sweat until translucent, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. (it was a little longer than this, so don't worry)
2. Add the carrots, ginger, and lemongrass and stir to coat the vegetables with the ghee or oil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes. (again, don't worry if this is a little longer)
3. Add the broth and increase the heat to medium. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook until the carrots are tender, about 15 minutes. (more like 45. I cooked until I could easily mush my largest bit of carrot against the side of the pot)
4. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, (stick blenders are good here if you have one) blending in batches if necessary. Season with sea salt to taste and serve immediately.

You can refrigerate the soup for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 6 months.

As I'm sure you expect of me by now, I did several things differently and was very happy with the results. Often when I see recipes online I think they are going to be too mild so I will increase the spices, and sometimes even the main ingredients. I bought two pounds of carrots. I don't know if between peeling and chopping off ends that I actually got rid of half a pound of carrot, but it didn't seem to be worth worrying about. This is me not worrying about it. I increased the ginger by 50%, doubled the lemongrass, and started with 1 cup of onion and about 3/4 Cup of shallots. I've taken to keeping a pound of shallots on hand. They keep better than onions, and can usually be substituted for them, while the reverse is not necessarily true. I love their nice sharp flavor and if you fry them to a crisp they're good on top of many things.

I don't use my kitchen mallet very often. Usually it's for when I make chicken or veal Parmesan and I want to flatten a cutlet, all the better to crisp you my dear. This time, it was just a couple of whacks to each stem of the lemongrass. They immediately released their delightful fragrance into the air, so I know I did that right.

An option to consider next time is half vegetable broth and half chicken broth, but I wasn't going to do that this time. I had the luck of my dinner guest offering some of his homemade chicken stock so of course I used that.

I served the soup with a sous vide chicken breast that I spiced with garlic and ground chile pepper. I wanted some of those tiny Thai peppers, but my nearest grocery store did not have any, so the garnish was some chopped scallions, which worked pretty well. I dunked a bit of chicken in my soup and that was unexpectedly delicious.

Questions? Comments? I always love to hear from you.