Carrot Soup

This past month has been a very long month, both physically and emotionally draining and in the midst of it all I could not even think of blogging. We did, however, eat and this warm and creamy carrot soup was one of the many dishes of comfort my family ate to feel a little more centred. There is a hint of spice, an underlying sweetness and the heartiness of carrots buoyed by red wine. Crumbles of chevre on top melt into the creaminess of the soup and add a great punch of tang against the subtle backdrop of the soup. This soup will warm you.

The Soup

1 onion, diced

5 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced

250 ml dry red wine

2 healthy spoonfuls of plain yogurt (goat is best for tang!)

500 ml water

S & P to taste*

chevre

olive oil

*I ran out of stock so had to use straight water - to compensate I had to add a lot more salt than usual. If using stock, obviously you won't need to freak out your family with the amount of salt you're adding.

1. In a medium sized pot heat bout a tablespoon of olive oil until it slips easily across the bottom. Add the onion and lower heat to medium low. Cook until translucent and the liquid releases then cook a little longer.

2. Add the carrots. Allow a little browning on the edges of the carrots- that's flavour! I cut mine into medallions which was kind of a pain when it came time to blend it. I highly suggest dicing the carrots.

3. Raise the temperature to medium-high and add the wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Leave the wine and carrots to mingle a bit before adding the water. Cover and boil until the carrots are fork tender.

4. Remove from heat. I used an immersion blender to purée the whole thing. Feel free to use a stand blender but be very careful.

5. Once smooth, swirl in the yogurt. Don't forget to add the salt and pepper! Taste test!

6. Serve with toasted wedges and crumbles of chevre. Enjoy.

Intense and Delicious Chicken Soup Recipe

Lilies trying really hard.

Spring in Nova Scotia fights a valiant battle and struggles mightily to work itself out and when it does happen we are rewarded with the most spectacular beauty. Everything is lush and there is suddenly life where soggy branches and leaves from last year used to lay. Before that? Weeks of miserable rain and fog. It is as if the clouds have descended to the sky and yesterday, the fog fulfilled its duties. It was formidable and when not eating my neighbours it wept tears upon my balcony. If you tried hard enough you could reach out and hold a piece of the atmosphere in your hand to take a peek at The Mystery. The magic that carries spring aloft is held in that fog.

The damp cold that comes with fog is entirely different than the kind that dances on your cheeks with snow in the winter. This cold settles into you and smoulders dry ice in your belly. The only way to chase away these gnomes of heavy atmosphere is to quench them with soup. This is the soup to do it. It is is rich and creamy but there are no heavy noodles to stop you from searching for puddles to stomp.

The secret is time. This soup is so fragrant and heady and the only way to actually experience and enjoy it properly is to let it simmer over the stove all day. Our little apartment smelled like a haven for all cold wanderers.

The Soup

6 chicken drumsticks

7 carrots

one cup corn

one cup peas

one potato, diced

one purple onion, diced

3 - 4 cloves garlic (let your tastes direct you)

to taste: rosemary

sea salt

crushed black pepper

1. Caramelize your onions in olive oil. Once juicy and golden remove from the pot because you do not want to burn them when you turn up the heat. Check out the best caramelized onions in Thursday Basics.

2. Dust your chicken in a bit of potato starch. I added fresh rosemary, sea salt and cracked black pepper to the dusting.

Oh my.

3. Turn up the heat and add a bit more oil to your pot, you don't want to scorch the chicken. Chicken is notoriously difficult to brown which is why you add the dusting of starch, it is actually the starch you are browning. Once the chicken is a a rich and crisp golden colour pur in a hefty glug of white wine, sprinkle with just another light dusting of potato starch and let it simmer.

4. Boil down the wine then fill the pot with stock and water: About 3 parts stock for one part water. Return the caramelized onions to the pot.

5. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes to seriously cook the chicken. When the chicken is cooke, lower to a simmer and add the entire potato and half the vegetables. Rinse the potato really well to wash off any of the starch that escapes. I only add half the vegetables now so that they will break down a bit and add flavour to the soup. The starch will help naturally thicken it a bit. Remember, there are no noodles in this soup. At this point, give a little taste to see if you need to add any salt or any other herbs. Be careful adding at this point because this soup is intended to simmer all day and the flavours bloom with time (which means if you over salt now you are slightly screwed.*)

6. At about 15 minutes prior to serving add the reserved vegetables and remove all the meat from the bones. That is, if it hasn't fallen off already.

I feel like I ought to add a disclaimer about my recipes because they are not so much die hard recipes but guidelines. I rarely use measurements because my cooking is visceral. I use all my senses to cook and I trust my own taste and I know what my family likes to eat. So do you. Always taste your food. That is my one rule. Put your whole self into your food, it's the only way.

*If you are ever making a soup and you find it too salty, put in a whole potato and boil for a few minutes. When you remove the potato you will find it has removed some of that extra saltiness.

Thursday Basics: Soup Stock

Through commercial advertisement children learn to enjoy simple and overly sweet flavours, like strawberry, grape, fruit punch and as they get a little older: The dreaded bubblegum. It's the beginning of the candy phase. And, if these one dimensional flavours are dumped upon them over time, we end up with picky eaters.

The other night neither mr. or I felt like cooking dinner so we grabbed a bit of sushi on the way home from the park. Halifax has been unseasonably warm for March and I have started wandering upstairs to stash to winter coats until next year. It might be too early, but I digress. The Boy effectively ate more than anyone else. He gobbled down (in his hufffy way) salmon sashimi, tuna nigiri and he was eyeing up the unagi but his sister was quicker. My children have unique palates because we encourage them to explore food. We don't assume they will not like a food because it isn't a frozen chicken finger or flat pizza. This isn't about food elitism, it is about teaching our children. It is about a legacy (monsters are [possibly] going to come out of the sea about this).

A few years ago I was listening to the radio and the featured expert stated that this coming generation will be unable to make their own soup stock. That is entirely unacceptable. That is a disservice to our children and ultimately devastating (particularly considering 2012 is right around the corner).

It doesn't have to be like that; you don't have to assume your children will only eat folded pepperoni pizza things because chain restaurants have decreed it so. Good food does take time. Delicious, nutritious food that is creative and beautiful takes time. And, the way you have to start thinking about food is different. That will work itself out. Want to know the reason why the coming generation won't know how to make soup stock?

Their parents aren't teaching them.

The Stock:

vegetable knobs (leftover bits)

bones (no humans.)

inner garlic cloves, ginger

wine

water

You know all the ends of carrots, pieces of leftover onion and chicken bones that are always left over after cooking a meal? Keep 'em. store all of it in a sizeable container that is freezer safe. That is, instead of composting. Throw in all the small pieces of garlic, the kind that are so small that your fingertips hurt if you even consider chopping them. Beet ends give the end result a sweet and mysterious tang.

When you have filled that container dump it all in a pot with water and a hefty shot of white wine and season it with salt and pepper. Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for a few hours. All the yummines in your magic container of vegetable bits will be drawn out and make for an incredible basic soup stock.

That's it.

Steps (just to break it down.):

1. Collect the container of leftover chopped up vegetables and bones.

2. Bring to a boil in water and wine. Basically the ratio is 1 part wine to 5 parts water.

3. Simmer for a few hours.

A bit bizarre looking, it's the stock working its magic.

Once you have your stock guess what you can start doing? Anything! All those recipes that call for stock to infuse an extra layer of flavour .. guess what you have? Exactly. Forget that awful dehydrated yellow stuff, besides, if you are gluten-free you will be staying away from it already. It takes no time at all to collect your stock-fixings which means you theoretically won't run out. Too often, unless you are like us and have at least two containers in the freezer. Go. Have fun.

(A note: It is somehow appropriate that the very first Thursday Basic post inadvertently went up on Wednesday because I am completely incapable of figuring out my time zone. Isn't that perfect?)