Food and Drink

Rick’s Cozy Carrot Soup

by
Rick Brown

Many years ago a friend gave me Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook for a gift. While a very nice gesture, the book sat on a shelf for a long time. But after I got bored with brewing beer … which to me amounts to boiling, sterilizing, bottling and cleaning and not much else … I decided to learn how to cook. Not the “cook” a lot of guys … including myself … brag about. There is so much more to cooking than throwing stuff in a pot and calling it spaghetti sauce and/or chili … or flipping burgers on a barbeque grill.

My wife Yvonne is an excellent cook. But why learn what she already knows? So I leaned on Ms. Katzen’s expertise … along with sage advice from Yvonne. And this is one of the very first recipes I attempted. Although I have “ramped it up” some, and tweaked amounts, the essence remains Mollie’s creation. I give her full credit. But here is my take on it … call it a “self interpreted cover version” of her hit if you like!

Thanks Mollie!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. carrots (I buy bags of “baby carrots” to save time on peeling)
1 large Yukon Gold potato
4 ½ cups spring or filtered water
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large onion)
6-10 (to taste) cranks of ground Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
3 large cloves of garlic minced
1 heaping tsp. dried thyme
1 heaping tsp. dried marjoram or oregano
2 heaping tsp. dried basil
The juice of one lemon

Peel and chop the carrots. Dice the potato into small cubes (about ½ inch). Drop both into a small stockpot. Add the water. Bring to a rapid boil, partially cover and simmer over medium high heat for 20 minutes or until you can easily pierce vegetables with a fork.

While the simmering is happening, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and grind Himalayan Pink Sea Salt (to taste) into onions/oil. Over medium heat, sauté the onions in oil for 7 to 10 minutes. Add dried herbs and minced garlic. Continue to sauté, stirring briskly until onions are soft. Remove from heat and add the juice of one lemon.

Pour the seasoned, sautéed onions into the stockpot containing the stewed vegetables. Purée with a hand held immersion blender. Of course you can always transfer everything to a food processor, purée and pour back into the pot … but really … what a pain. Buy an immersion blender. You won’t regret it … ever. Bring soup to a gentle simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve topped with a garnish of parsley or chives.

Makes 6 to 8 servings. The recipe can easily be doubled and frozen. But seriously … don’t attempt doubling this recipe without an immersion blender!

Take the time to check out Mollie Katzen’s website. Or friend her on FaceBook!!

http://www.molliekatzen.com/