No, I’m not talking about being in the kitchen with open flames and sharp objects while inebriated. That wouldn’t be safe. I’m talking about the influence other people have on your cooking. A few weeks ago I took some ideas from a couple of people and cobbled them together to make Creamy Carrot Soup with Carrot Top Pesto. The carrot top pesto part is a riff on a Carrot Top Salsa Verde from Tara Duggan’s Root to Stalk Cooking, which is basically the vegetarian equivalent of nose to tail.
I didn’t want to mess much with the “carroty-ness” of the soup as a whole, so to harness all that flavor I used the carrots themselves to make the broth using only three other ingredients; ginger, shallot and matcha salt. I learned about matcha salt from Eric Gower of breakawaymatcha.com and his book The Breakaway Cook. That book does what it promises and helps you break out of any cooking rut you might be stuck in with innovative ingredient ideas and techniques in the recipes that expand your ideas about flavor combinations. Another idea I use of his quite frequently is ground couscous as a breading. A nice fine layer of that on any type of pan fried item stays super crispy and delicious!
Using just a few ingredients, the matcha salt, a couple of aromatics, the carrots themselves and a little water I had an intensely golden and flavorful broth to work with in about ten minutes.
From there is only a little more water, about another ten minutes of cooking and a blender until soup!
A Few Things You’ll Need for this Recipe!
For the matcha salt you will need a mortar and pestle or an electric spice grinder. I prefer the Surabachi, a Japanese grooved mortar and pestle as pictured above for this. A coarse grey salt does a great job of taking on whatever you grind with it because of its moisture content. For cooking (or blending in drinks or smoothies) I use the Culinary Matcha and save the better (and more expensive) stuff for using straight in my morning cup.
For making the pesto and pureeing the soup you will need a great blender that can take the heat and will blend super smooth or a good stick blender for right in the pot.
Choose bunch carrots with the tops attached for this recipe. The tops should bright green and healthy. Avoid bunches with wilted or browning carrot tops as these are not fresh.
Creamy Carrot Soup with Carrot Top Pesto
For the Matcha Salt
- 1 Tbsp coarse salt (preferably French Gray Salt)
- 1 tsp matcha
For the Pesto
- 1 bunch carrot tops (most of stem cut off)
- 1 bunch Italian parsley (most of stem cut off)
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup ground parmigiano
For the Soup
- 2 pounds bunch carrots (large dice)
- 1 large shallot (thinly sliced)
- 1 tsp ginger (freshly grated)
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 5 cups water (divided)
Matcha Salt
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Place the ingredients into a mortar and pestle or an electric spice mill.
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Grind until combined.
Carrot Top Pesto
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For the pesto, place the first four ingredients and half the olive oil in a blender or food processor.
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Blend until chunky, then add the cheese and drizzle in the rest of the olive oil slowly until smooth but thick. You may not need all the oil.
Soup
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Heat a 4 qt. sauce pan over medium heat for a few minutes, then add the cooking oil. Saute the shallot and ginger for a few minutes until the shallot has softened and turned lightly golden.
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Add the carrots and 2 teaspoons of the matcha salt and saute for 4 minutes.
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Add enough water to come up halfway on the carrots, then cover and cook for 10 minutes.
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Remove the lid and add more water to cover the carrots by half an inch. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover and cook another ten minutes, or until the carrots are very tender.
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Blend in the pot with a stick-blender, or in a jar blender, making sure there is an air gap in the lid to allow steam to escape.
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To serve, place in bowl and spoon on a heaping tablespoon of the pesto.
Remember, recipes are guidelines so play with these techniques and let your imagination be your guide and let your influences speak.
Have Fun Cooking!
Stuart