Carrot Soup Island Style

The Beautiful No-Ever Beach

Our host family Tony, Kathy with their girls including the brand new baby 48 hours old.
Tony supplied us with a leg of suckling pig.  Freshly
I have only had this once before and it is so fabulous, as long as you get your head around baby pigs. BUT we all eat lamb and milk fed veal…so, I guess its not much difference.
The Skin was so white and the flesh a very pale pink.

It roasted beautifully. What a crackling. My friend Lois, who is a champion Pork cooker would be proud.

Anyway only 4 of us ate the roast so there was a lot left over. Being my Mother’s daughter, nothing ever goes to waste so I set about and made
A Japanese Pork Curry, Thursday's Dinner
The leftovers were dinner on Friday night
Curry on Toast

Still had a lot of meat left over so I carved off the best bits and made

A Pork and Ginger Beer Stew with Green Capsicum, onions and white wine.

And with the bones and residual meat

A beautiful gelatinous stock.

And Carrot Soup

We did that pig justice

Carrot Soup
50 gms butter
6 carrots peeled and cut into small cubes, (you could grate it)
Sea salt and black pepper
1-2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
100 mls ginger beer
Meat Stock, preferably homemade Of course I used the pork stock
I think Veal or chicken would be just as good Beef a little strong perhaps.
A good slosh of Thai Ginger Sauce (Shop bought, or if you are lucky enough Heinzie’s version)

Melt the butter in a pot
Add carrots
Gently sauté till they are coated with the butter
Season with S & P and coriander
Stir
Add garlic
Stir again then add ginger beer
Simmer till it reduces and the carrot start to soften

Add the stock about 600 mls I think
Add Thai Ginger sauce
Simmer again till carrots really soft
20- 30 minutes.
Cool
Blitz in blender till smooth

And serve. Deep orange colour and delicious.

The Stock was really simple.

I used what was in the fridge
Threw in the pork bones and any residual meat that I hadn’t used
2 onions cut in half
4 celery stick
Bunch parsley
4 cloves garlic
Green capsicum scraps
Couple of chillies
½ bottle white wine
Sea salt and Black pepper
Water to top the pot up.

I cooked it for about 2 hours just simmering away
Strain it
Cooled and removed fat from the top
And Voila
Stock fit for a king.

Soup, Salad and Sandwich Birthday Lunch

My friend Catherine had a birthday. An Annual Event Don’t you Know?

We missed the Actual Day, so this was a belated event.
It’s autumnal weather, so, a nice soup first and little salad to cleanse the palate, and then Bruschetta.
What is lunch without a sandwich?

Catherine made her own birthday cake
Walnut and Apple. Served warm with custard and whipped cream. Yum


The Soup
This is the second time I have made this soup.
It's wonderful.

It is from the Ina Garten Collection,
I followed her recipe the first time,
but made a couple of changes in the preparation for this lunch.

Leeks can get over caramelized and bitter, in the roasting process, so I cooked them in a separate pan from the potatoes.


Roasted Potato and Leek Soup.

1 kilo Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
4 cups chopped leeks, (same size) white and light green parts, cleaned of all sand (4 leeks)
1/4 cup good olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups baby arugula, lightly packed
1/2 cup dry white wine, plus extra for serving
6 to 7 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (recipe following)
3/4 cup heavy cream
250 gms crème fraiche
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

180C Oven
Into a roasting pan add chunked potatoes,
Sprinkle over olive oil
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and roast about 30- 40 minutes till tender
Meanwhile in another plan add chunked leeks
Sprinkle over more olive oil and season
Roast about 20-30 minutes

About 5 minutes before the potatoes are ready add arugula and roast till wilted.

Put the potato pan on top of stove add the cooked leeks and deglaze with 1/2 cup white wine and 1 cup of chicken stock
Make sure you scrape up all of the crispy bits.

Transfer everything to a blender along with the rest of the chicken stock and puree till smooth
You will need to do this in batches.

Pour into your soup pot and slowly bring to a simmer.

Add cream and crème fraiche
Check seasoning and adjust if necessary
You can leave it now, till time to serve

When ready to eat reheat slowly.
Be careful it can catch on the bottom of the pan.

Whisk in grated Parmesan and 2 tablespoons white wine.

A Simple Salad was next
Just some crispy Baby Cos lettuce
Lovely Papaya
Tomato (deseeded)

Your favourite vinaigrette
And some chopped chives.

The Sandwich

Two different Bruschetta
Click here for the Garden Puree Topping
And here for the Eggplant and Mozzarella
An excellent lunch.

Homemade Chicken Stock
I am very impressed with Ina’s chicken stock recipe.

It reads like any old stock you would normally make but the addition of parsnips have added a wonderful sweetness. Plus I used rosemary in place of dill. I think that would have added extra sweetness as well.

It was worth making, not only for the cost (about 1/3 of the cost of buying ready made)
But also, for the wonderful flavour.
I will be making this, every week during the winter.
This year it is going to be a Lunchtime Soup Event most days’.

I have so many different flavours that I would like to try.

I used 2 stock pots - 3 quarts each - for this amount of ingredients

Just split the ingredients in half for each pot.
Mrs Garten used 3 chickens. That is a bit over the top.
I got carcasses from the supermarket, and complimented them with some chicken nibbles for extra flavour.

4 chicken carcasses plus packet chicken nibbles
3 large onions, unpeeled and quartered
6 carrots, unpeeled and halved
4 celery stalks with leaves, cut in thirds
4 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in 1/2
20 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
15 sprigs fresh thyme
20 sprigs fresh dill /rosemary
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips,
parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns
in a 16 to 20-quart (litre) stockpot with 7 quarts (litres) of water and bring to a boil.
I haven’t got a stock pot that big so I used 2 x 4 quart pots
Skim the surface as needed.
Simmer uncovered for 4 hours.
Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander, discarding the chicken and vegetables, and chill.
Discard the hardened fat, and then pack the broth in quart containers.

Yield: 6 quarts (litres)

Just a quick aside…another use for the Garden Pea Puree

Make a Pithvivier

A Pithivier (Pithiviers in French) is a round, enclosed pie usually made with puff pastry.
The pie is traditionally finished with a distinct shine to the top of the crust, either by
egg-washing or if making a sweet one… by the caramelizing of a thin layer of sugar at the end of the cooking process. It is baked directly onto a baking sheet and has a wheel pattern lightly scored onto the top of the pastry.

Cut a circle out of a sheet of puff pastry
Place on a greased baking sheet.
Egg wash 1 cm around the edge with a brush

Cover with 1 cup of the garden puree mixed with a little egg.
Just enough to bind it.
Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Place puree on the pastry
Cover with grated cheese
Cut out a slightly larger circle for the top.
Score light with a sharp knife like wheel spokes.
Place on top
Seal the edge and crimp with a fork

Make a little vent for the steam

Bake in 190C oven for about 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown.
Delicious.
We quickly demolished that half.