Maple Curry Carrot Soup

Happy New Year to All!

Aki and Alex from Ideas in Food have announced their Maple Menu giveaway selections.  This maple curry carrot soup I created for their collaborative menu won for the soup category!   

This is great news in the fact that I get to try what seems like an amazing bottle of maple syrup as a winner, but even more rewarding is the opportunity to be recognized by, in my opinion, one of the most important cooking blogs in cyberspace.  If you are serious about cooking, you've got to check out their site on a daily basis.   The ideas shared there will no doubt affect the way you think about creating a menu at home.

In the spirit of the Ideas in Food site, I wanted to come up with something unique, or at least unique to me.  I went down the carrot track as I thought maple glazed carrots would be a nice combination.  I love the flavor of curry with carrots and thought its earthy flavors would balance the sweetness of the maple and add another dimension to the carrots.

But after roasting the carrots I was inspired to puree them with a homemade vegetable stock. What I really like about this soup is the underlying flavor of the maple is present, yet it works to balance the other flavors in this dish rather than overwhelm them.  I garnished the soup with toasted almonds and the crunch of pomegranite seeds.

After the jump, I've included a general method for preparation.   

The method is conceptual in form.   I was freewheeling while preparing this soup, so didn't take down specifics for a detailed recipe.

Peel carrots and prep into about 2 inch pieces. Cook them in boiling salted water until tender but still just a touch al dente. Put a pot on medium heat with about 1 tblsp butter and about ½ teaspoon of ground curry. When melted and combined, add about 1 tblsp maple syrup. Whisk the maple into the curry butter and cook to combine and just a bit of simmering. Add the carrots and season with salt, pepper. Coat the carrots in the maple curry butter mixture and cook for only a minute or two.

Add room temp vegetable stock to this pot, just covering the carrots. Let simmer for a minute or two on low heat until the flavors come together. Puree with immersion blender until smooth. Continue to add stock as needed to get it to a texture you are happy with. Season with a squeeze of lemon juice salt and pepper as necessary.

Garnish with slices of salted, toasted almonds and pomegranate seeds. Optional drizzle of maple syrup to finish.

 

Comments

[sam]

Hey Joe
I was similarly blown away/honoured/excited to have been one of the winners. Also to try and think about food the way they do instead of the way I would ordinarily approach it.

I feel a more exciting food future in 2006!

Happy new Year

sam

[sam]

PS. My new years resolution is to pay more attention to the NY blogs. I am hitting your town for the first time for my 40th in June and I need to start doing some research!

Expect more visits from me!

[joe]

hi sam,

i actually came up with three or four maple dishes but only thought this soup was even remotely unique enough and worthy of submitting!

happy to know you'll be stopping by the site - i am obviously an nyc restaurant whore so happy to give you tips beyond what you'll find here...

happy new year!