Carrot Ginger Soup

The sun will be starting it’s journey back our way today.  This makes me happy.  I’m not a fan of the shorter days.  After getting tired of not being seen walking the dogs we bought them LED lights to hang from their collars.  They are super bright so that should help with the close calls trying to get across the roads. Luckily they don’t seem to bother the dogs and they have an added benefit of lighting up the area they are sniffing so I can see if they are about to eat something they shouldn’t!

With all that has been going on the past few weeks I lost track what was in the fridge.  I have a bad habit of buying ingredients when we already have them because I don’t see them in there!  At some point we bought a bunch of carrots and I needed to use them up.  I have been wanting to try a carrot soup.  It’s funny growing up the only way I liked carrots was raw.  But tastes change.

I should say I only liked organic ones.  I don’t know what it is but conventional carrots are always dry to me and not as sweet.  I know for most things the taste difference isn’t huge between organic and conventional but things like tomatoes and carrots I find a big difference.  Organic carrots seem to have more water and sweetness to them.

I found this carrot soup recipe that looked really good and adjusted it to the number of servings we needed.  Their recipe said it would be 8 servings but I made what I thought was enough for 4 but it was really closer to 8 so who knows how much soup the original recipe would have made.

Carrot ginger soup 1 2014

Finely chop a 1/4 of a large red onion and saute in about 2 tablespoons of butter.

Carrot ginger soup 2 2014

While the onion is cooking peel and slice 3-4 medium sized carrots.  You want at least two cups of sliced carrots.  I think I ended up with nearly 3 cups.  Add them to the onion and stir well then add 2 cups of homemade chicken stock.  As it is coming to a boil grate about 2 inches of fresh ginger into the soup, season with salt and pepper, then stir well.  Simmer until the carrots are tender and cooked.  This took about 45 minutes for the carrots I had.  Then use an immersion blender or a regular blender to blend all the ingredients.  Put back on the heat and add 1/2 a cup of heavy cream.

Carrot ginger soup 3 2014

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed and warm up as needed.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Carrot ginger soup 4 2014

Full of flavour without much difficulty.  I discovered a few days later that it was very good cold as well so I will be having this in the summer as a light meal or a first course.  If I had some I would have garnished this dish with chives and the chive flowers.  Another thing to add in the summer when the garden is flourishing.  6 more months!  Not that we’re counting or anything.  🙂

Beef Stroganoff

I haven’t had this dish in years.  And suddenly I was in the mood for it.  But hadn’t a clue how to make it.  So I had to dig through all my recipe books.  Turns out there are many ways of making this, like many dishes, so I picked on that wasn’t too fussy.  The book I chose was “101 Pasta Recipes”  Of course I changed it.  Here is my version.

In a bowl put in some flour, salt and pepper and toss in cubed beef to coat.

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat.  Add beef and brown on all sides.

Only cook until browned but not all the way through as you will finish cooking at the end.

Transfer to a small bowl and keep warm.  While the beef was browning slice up some onions and mushrooms.

Add more olive oil to the pan and saute the mushrooms and onions until softened.  Add a cup of veg broth (the recipe calls for beef broth), a tablespoon of tomato paste (I was sceptical but tried it anyway), and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil.  In the meantime cook the egg noodles.  Add the beef back in and finish cooking.

Turn down the heat to a simmer and add 1 cup of sour cream.  Make sure it heats through but doesn’t boil.

Add the noodles in and serve.

It’s a wonderful hearty dish.  The only thing my husband wished for was more mushrooms so next time round I won’t be so stingy on the mushrooms!  🙂