Carrot Coconut Soup

I guess March is a soupy month, I noticed my last post was a soup recipe. I do love soup, I make is weekly, pretty much all year around. It's an easy lunch or dinner, for one person or a larger group.

This latest soup was a happy accident. I wanted to make my usual carrot ginger soup as part of a dinner for a friend. I was going for the very simple version, where the carrots, onions and ginger all go into the pot at once with some water or broth to simmer. On impulse I added a cinnamon stick.
Once everything had cooked and cooled enough to pureé, I removed the cinnamon stick and some of the ginger. I tasted it and realized the cinnamon was quite strong but I didn't want to add a lot more liquid. As I pondered a way to fix this, I saw a can of coconut milk sitting on a shelf. I added the whole can which included some rather thick solid chunks. The texture was perfect and the taste was amazing !! The only thing it needed was a bit of acid ( apple cider vinegar ) and a touch of salt. I am so pleased with how this turned out, so was my dinner guest !!

Laurie's Carrot Coconut Soup

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped into chunks
6-8 large carrots, chopped into 1 inch pieces
fresh sliced ginger ( about an inch long piece)
one inch of cinnamon stick ( this is less than I used originally)
soup stock or water to cover ( I add 1 tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 can coconut milk
salt & pepper to taste

1) In a large pot place carrots, onions, ginger slices, cinnamon stick, add enough water or stock to cover easily.
2) Bring to a boil and allow to simmer 30-45 minutes until the carrots are tender.
3) When it has cooled enough to puree safely, remove the cinnamon and ginger.
4) Puree in a blender in batches with some cooking liquid, the coconut milk and some of the ginger ( I like to peel it). How much liquid you use depends on the consistency you want, go easy at first.  How much ginger you use depends on your tastes.
5) Add the vinegar, salt and pepper to taste and blend one last time.
6) Serve with a salad and some crusty bread.

Laurie's Very Simple Carrot Ginger Soup

This recipe is dedicated to a dear friend whose birthday is this week. She was the first person to send me a recipe for carrot ginger soup, it helped her to recover from chemotherapy many years ago. (Ginger is very settling to the stomach.)Thankfully she is still around to celebrate her birthday :-)

I had a version of this soup recently when I lunched at Green's, that inspired me to make it myself. I have become quite the pureed soup aficionado since that first recipe crossed my path.

This version is so creamy and full of ginger flavor.

Laurie's Very Simple Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients

1 large onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-8 large carrots
fresh ginger ( about an inch long)
soup stock or water

1) Chop and saute your onion until it begins to caramelize.

I just threw the onion in the pot, it has not started to cook yet.

2) Chop the carrots into large coins.

 3) Slice about an inch of fresh ginger into thin slices.

4) Once the onion has cooked to your satisfaction, add the carrots, ginger and enough water or soup stock to cover the carrots.

5) Simmer until the carrots are soft and mushy.

6) Once it has cooled down, remove most of the ginger before you puree the mixture, otherwise it will be too strong, you can always add it back in. I ended up with 3 or 4 slices of ginger. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add more liquid if it is too thick.

7) Reheat gently to serve and top with a teaspoon of yogurt and sprinkle of paprika.

Very Ginger Cake with Caramel Topping

This ginger cake would make a great dessert for Thanksgiving if you are willing to step away from the traditional pie extravaganza. This cake can be made several days ahead of time, which can help the busy cook on turkey day.

I love the caramel topping so much I make is by itself to serve on ice cream. Last year I gave it as gifts for the holidays.

Here is a tip for grating the large amount of  fresh ginger this cake requires: freeze it first !!

Very Ginger Cake with Caramel Topping

Ingredients

The Cake

• . 1 cup canola oil
• . 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• . 1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed
• . 1 cup molasses
• . 3 large eggs
• . 1/2 cup peeled and finely grated fresh ginger (about 4 ounces)
• . 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + more to flour pan
• . 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• . 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• . 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• . 2  tablespoon powered ginger
• . 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• . 2 teaspoons baking soda
• . 1 cup boiling water

The Caramel Sauce

• . 1 cup golden brown sugar, packed
• . 1/2 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter + more to grease pan
• . 1/2 cup whipping cream
• . 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1) For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 325°. With room-temperature butter, grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with a paper towel, smearing butter into all the pan's crevices as well as the center tube. Add spoonfuls of flour and holding the pan over the sink, rotate it to coat it with flour. The inside tube will not be completely coated. Knock excess flour into the sink by tapping the pan lightly.

2) In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sugars and molasses until combined. 

3) Add eggs and mix until smooth. 

4) Now it's time to grate the ginger. I love the mirco-grater for this job. And if your fresh ginger is frozen as mentioned earlier, it's an easier job. 

5) Whisk in ginger to incorporate.

6) If you have the whole nutmeg it worth to grate it fresh. A tiny grater does the trick.

7) Add that nutmeg to another large bowl, with the flour, cinnamon, cloves, powered ginger and salt, mix together.

8) Add flour mixture to molasses mixture until combined. 

9) Stir baking soda into boiling water.

10) Mix baking soda water into batter until blended.

11) Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. 

12) Bake for 50-60 minutes or until sides begin to pull away from pan and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Remove to a rack and cool in pan for 15 minutes.

For the glaze: 

1) In a small saucepan, stir brown sugar, butter, whipping cream and salt over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil. 

2) Reduce heat to medium-low and stir until smooth, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

You can do it two ways: 

     Invert cake onto rack over a baking sheet. Using a small skewer, pierce holes all over top of warm cake. Very slowly pour glaze over top, allowing it to be absorbed before adding more. Cool cake at least 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

   Or just make the caramel sauce and pour it warm over each slice of cake as it is served.

Honey Ginger Buttercream Frosting

I have had a lot of fun making those pumpkin cupcakes from an earlier post.
When my friend recently asked for something with pumpkin and ginger in a birthday dessert, I decided to make them again only this time frost them with a ginger frosting. I was amazed to find that when I googled "ginger buttercream frosting" there were lots of hits.
This would be great for gingerbread cupcakes as well.

Start with 3/4 cup softened butter. Beat it until it's creamy.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar depending on how stiff you want it. Beat on high until smooth.
Now add 1/3 cup honey, 1 tablespoon powered ginger, and 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh grated ginger.

I love my micro grater, just be careful of your knuckles.
The easiest way to always have fresh ginger on hand is to freeze it !!
Freezing  also makes it very easy to grate.

Beat for a few minutes until smooth again and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Mix that in and adjust the thickness if needed.
You can tell from the cupcakes that I used a pastry bag and fancy tip. You can also just frost them with a knife. As a finishing touch I grated some fresh nutmeg onto each cupcake.