Weekend Cook: Carrot Ginger Bisque

Carrot Ginger Bisque

The Easter feast menu was portioned out amongst the extended family tree and I was in put in charge of: Carrot Dish.  A quick visit to the Food Network site yielded an Emeril recipe that looked like it might fit the bill nicely.

2 TB butter, 1 TB olive oil, 1 cup diced onions, 1/2 cup diced celery are sweated down, then 2 TB minced garlic and 1/4 cup of minced* ginger are added. 30 seconds later...

...1/2 pound of peeled and chopped carrots are added, and sauteed until starting to caramelize.

Add 2 cups Chicken Stock, 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1/2 tsp. Ground White Pepper and 1 Bay Leaf.

Simmer with the cover on for 30-40 minutes, until the carrots are cooked through.  Remove the bay leaf.

Process with an emulsion blender until smooth; add 1/4 cup heavy cream.  Adjust for salt and pepper. Garnish each serving with sour cream and minced chives.

This made four one-cup servings.  The original recipe called for much more chicken stock, salt and pepper to make a thinner soup (still four servings), but I prefer the intense flavor of this rich, gingery bisque.

*Speaking of ginger, the bits didn't break down during cooking and were present as small chunks which had to be chewed in the soup.  The next time I made this, I cut a hand of ginger in half the long way, removed it after cooking, and chopped it in a food processor fitted with a blade.  I strained that liquid back into the pot (pressing to remove all the juice from the pulp). Worked like a charm - no chunks!

Very yum - and the sour cream elevates it to the next level.