Chef Gary | Cold Carrot-Ginger Soup

Instructions:

• Peel the carrots and ginger. Juice half the carrots and ginger – set aside. Dice the remainder.
• Cut the habanero and remove the seeds (leave them in if you want it very hot). Use a fresh habanero or a dried one if fresh is not available.
• Sauté the remaining carrots and ginger with the onion, garlic, and habanero in the butter and water over medium heat. Sauté slowly until soft – don’t brown the vegetables.
• Place the vegetables and any liquid into the VitaMix or a blender. Add some of the carrot/ginger juice to thin. Puree until very smooth. Add more carrot/ginger juice if needed. Mix the puree with the remaining carrot/ginger juice.
• Push the puree through a tamis or a fine sieve to make it very smooth. Taste for salt and pepper.
• To serve, add cream to thin soup to desired consistency (use a whisk to combine puree and cream). Refrigerate and serve cold.

Notes:

• The soup – without the cream – will last up to 1 week in the refrigerator. This is good for planning - make this ahead of time if you are serving this at a dinner for friends.
• We served about 2 ounces in a martini glass as an amusé at the restaurant. For an appetizer, serve 4 to 6 ounces (it is a rich soup).
• Garnish with a flower or cilantro leaf if desired.
• Increase or decrease the habanero to adjust heat. Fresh habaneros are best, but not always available. We used fresh in season and dried during the winter.
• Adjust cream to desired consistency – we liked a fairly thick soup.
• If you don’t have a juicer, replace half the carrots with 1 ½ to 2 cups of carrot juice. Grate half the ginger and squeeze the pulp through a double layer of cheesecloth to extract juice to mix with the carrot juice.
• Adjust the quantities to scale the recipe according to how many people you are serving.

Glossary:

• Tamis - this is a round, drum-like, piece of equipment with a screen. You pass food through the screen to strain it. A strainer (fine sieve) works well.
• Sauté - this a high temperature cooking method. A sauté pan or fry pan is used. The pan is placed on a burner until it is quite hot. Oil is added then the ingredients are added. The the heat may be then lowered and the food cooked until done. Food is constantly moved (sauteed) while cooking.
• Puree - this is taking food and, using a blender or food processor, chopping it to an almost liquid state.
• Amusé - this is a short term for amusé bouche (French for "teasing the mouth"). The amusé is typically the first small taste of food provided to guests (compliments of the Chef) - prior to the appetizer.