Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Carrot Ginger Soup


Jeff was cleaning out his refrigerator. Big bag of - not really old, but not young, either. "Do you want these?" Well, I hate to see food thrown away, so of course I said yes. But what do you do with just under 2# of carrots? The only thing that made any sense to me was to make . I haven't had that in a long time, and I absolutely adore it! The color alone makes my mouth water!

So I started with onion and - of course. A whole onion, and 3 cloves of garlic. I chopped them up and threw them into a large pot with about a tablespoon of my Earth Balance. (Butter, if your can handle it.) When the onion had wilted and was translucent, I added the carrots - peeled and sliced - and the ginger - diced - and turned the heat down to simmer them for about 20 minutes.








Then I added a little over 5 cups of chicken stock - maybe closer to 6. (Not all of it had thawed before I added it, so it was hard to measure.) I brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered it for about a half an hour. Working with about a quarter of the mixture at a time, I blended the soup in my blender. (A would probably have done it more quickly and perhaps better, but the blender was in the front and the processer was in the back of the cabinet. So......)

When I had the whole batch blended, I put it back in the pot and turned the heat up a bit. Just when it started to simmer, I turned the heat off, added what I had left in my container - maybe a half a cup? - and whisked it in. Ahhhhh......That and a good levain from my local (Bread & Cie), and I was in heaven!

From a health standpoint, everyone knows about carrots and vitamin A. But in , the color and flavor of carrots (orange and sweet) make them beneficial for the digestive system. In the 5 element paradigm, the Spleen/Pancrease (translation here is "digestive system") is the , and the color associated with this element is (or anything really close to it, like orange.) The flavor associated with it is sweet. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean , but rather and that are naturally sweet, such as carrots, , (which could have made a terrific addition to this soup), oranges etc. So to benefit your , you need to incorporate things that are yellow or orange and naturally sweet.

For more health news, visit Mission Valley Acupuncture.

For those of you who haven't visited Susan over at Food Blogga , check out her site. Terrific recipes, great photos, wonderful writing!





9 comments:

jeanie marie kraft, L.Ac. said...

That sounds and looks so delish....especially here in Salem, MA where we are having artic-like weather. Can i order a bowl to be Fed-exed?

Thanks
jeanie marie kraft

Chris said...

I am all over this one this weekend. Thanks! Yummy! Can't wait to taste...

Rachael Narins said...

More exquisite photos!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hi, Toni!

This is a wonderful soup - the color is beautiful and the flavors are delicious!

I'll certainly prepare some of this for me when the weather gets cold here.

The hints on how healthy it is are also great, tks for sharing.

And I'd also like to thank you for the visit to my blog and for the lovely comment on my scones. I really appreciate it!

Kind regards from Brazil,
Patricia.

Toni said...

Jeanie,
Wish you could be here to enjoy it with me! Don't let the penguins move in!

Pebbles,
Thanks for the compliment! Love your angel hair pasta dish on your blog!

Rachael,
Coming from you, I consider that to be one of the best compliments EVER!

Patricia,
I adore Brazil and Brazilian food. Hope you do a posting on fejoada some day!

Freya said...

Lovely looking soup, warming and comforting! The colours are wonderful!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Toni, thank you so much for those kind words. It was gracious of you, and I appreciate it.

Your photos are lovely!

Anonymous said...

I miss so the permeating smell of Hatch chilis on 4th in ABQ, but today I am drawn to the carrot-ginger soup recipe. My own passion is china painting and having just filled the kiln, I am heading for the kitchen to make this soup. My husband loves soup. Actually, all of my husbands love(d) soup (one husband dead, one divorced by me and finally and happily remarried, after 19 years of being alone...frenetic dating not counting), and this husband of 14 years, the salt-of-the-earth kind. So, I am off to make him soup. Hmm, a hot pepper in the carrot-ginger soup is worth a try, even if it is not Hatch, no? Love your photography as always. Happy blogging, Toni.

Anonymous said...

Last response was not meant to be anonymous. My e-name is Sharonious (sigh, often erroneous) and my 2nd husband (of 17 years)and I were divorced for 22 years (!), not 19, before he found a fine, new mate. And, more to the point, the soup is fine, fine. I added chili pepper to just a cup and found that the ginger has sufficient heat for the dish and did not add chili pepper to the pot. My husband will be bringing home bags of carrots even more often now, and thank you.