Welcome back to Wednesdays with…! We had a week off but now we are back and better than ever! Meet Kym, food blogger and photographer extraordinaire. Native to NYC and a fellow culinary graduate, she blogs over at Free Spirit Eater. But that’s not all! When she’s not photographing great food (like her album for the NYC Food Blogger Bake Sale!), this girl is also a food culture writer, intern for Easy Eats and has just joined Wealth in Wellness magazine as their official food photographer! I love her appetite for life and everything food related, and as she says below, we could totally be best friends and talk food ALL DAY LONG! Connect with Kym on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest and share your foodie stories with her! She’s also hosting a raffle and giveaway to help her friend, who is paddle boarding around the island of Manhattan to raise money for charities whose main cause is to enrich the lives of individuals with Autism. You can donate here and enter to win great prizes!
Hello fellow Cooking with Books readers! To say I am thrilled to be guest posting on Marnely’s site would be an understatement. I am a big fan of her writing since first discovering her work on Marcus Samuelsson’s site. I too have fallen for her signature east coast recipes and been wooed by her effortlessly flowing words. The kind of person I know I could talk to for hours in person about food culture’s past and present influences on our lives. Us culinary school grads and (former) line cooks seem to have a special connection with one another. We could have fallen out of love with the industry like so many do each day, but instead we chose to praise the field that fueled our passion by spreading the joy it brought us, all the while hoping to ignite that flame that someone once ignited in us. But Marnely is so much more bad ass than I ever could be!
My first attempt at making this ginger carrot soup completely flopped. I could not get the flavors right, it fell short of being great. A simple one note tune, not the exciting symphony of flavors I always look forward to. After I reluctantly tossed the first inedible batch, I decided to look up the symbolism behind carrots and ginger root. I realized there was more to this dish than meets the eye.
“Tzimmes is an eastern European recipe for honey baked carrots. The Yiddish word “meren”means carrots and to increase. Carrots symbolize our hope that we increase our good deeds in the coming year.” After reading this excerpt, I took a deep breath and felt just a little bit more peaceful. I never knew carrots symbolized hope. This dish was already starting to become more special.
Ginger is not only an energy booster. “Ginger strengthens the yang energy of the Kidneys and the Will. Traditionally associated with the astrological planet Mars–a symbol of force and virility–this dynamic, fiery essence activates will-power, stimulates initiative, and restores determination. With a concomitant action on the Heart and the Mind, it can in addition help to boost confidence and morale, particularly in those with poor vitality.”
A dish made from hope, will power and determination. I could never look at these root vegetables the same way. Something that came from the dirt, represents hope, will power and determination. Not to mention they pair beautifully together when prepared correctly in a soup. I enjoyed it most served chilled.
But this soup doubles as a sauce when poured over grilled poultry or fish. Preferably salmon. No matter how I ingested this dish, each spoonful reminded me of the recent culinary lesson I had come across. After approaching the recipe making process with calm, hope, will power and determination, I was finally able to acquire the proper ratios and even experiment with adding other grilled meats and veggies.
Ginger Carrot Soup
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb of carrots peeled and medium diced
- 1 sweet potato peeled and medium diced
- 2 cloves of garlic sliced
- 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and diced
- 1 large shallot sliced
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 quart of vegetable broth
- 8 oz of orange juice
- Zest of one orange
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, on medium low heat, place ginger, garlic, shallots, and olive oil. Season lightly with salt.
- Cook vegetables until soft with no color. Add carrots and sweet potato and raise heat to medium for 3 minutes. Turn flame to high and deglaze pot with orange juice, vegetable stock and bay leaves.
- Bring to a boil for one minute. Turn down heat to medium and hard simmer for 15-20 minutes or until carrot is fork tender. Remove bay leaves and puree.
- Throw in a handful of flaky cooked salmon, oyster crackers or chopped grilled chicken. Or enjoy cold as a gazpacho.
This looks beautiful! I love carrot soup (we grew up eating it the Middle Eastern way) – the thought of it chilled is such a refreshing take on this classic dish. Beautiful color and presentation, too.
Most carrot soups look like the stuff you feed infants, but this looks very appetizing. Kym, I’m glad you were able to work things out.