Snow Day (Pt I)

Rather than going for a morning swim, I woke to find all of London blanketed in snow, quiet and chaotic with the soft flakes. London, rather like Portland, is ill-equipped to deal with winter's fury -- at least in the last few decades. Thus: Power Off. Uni closed, bus lines withdrawn, nearly every Tube line suspended. Norwegian friends chuckling condescendingly at the silly Londoners who can't deal with 10cm of snow.

I promised some gorgeous winter soup, and what better day than to give it to you?

Because I have most of my produce delivered in the form of an organic veg subscription, I pay less for good, mostly-local vegetables than I would at the store or farmer's market, in exchange for little control over the contents. Hence my tiring of parsnips and my mounting mountain of new potatoes. And carrots. Always the carrots. Having grown weary of my usual all-root-vegetables-in-a-pot puréed soup, and having tasted a rather nice carrot-coriander soup in Caffe Nero recently (I know! but it was silky and subtle and organic), I'd been thinking quite a bit about carrot soups.

At first, I simply tried to recreate the carrot-coriander wonder, using organic greek yoghurt in place of the crème fraiche in the Nero version (I know because I studied the ingredients, like the supreme foodie dork that I am). That went pretty well, but when the next week came around, I wanted to do something different. You see, I'm one of those people who, while adoring variety, is given to obsession with particular dishes. One day I'll make a very good salad and I have to keep making it every day or so for two weeks before I get sick of it. Then I can't eat it for a long time.

So I wanted to try for something a bit different, but preserving all the things I really loved about the first soup: the smooth texture, the carrot taste fronting the whole thing, the balance of flavours (sweet and earthy carrot, hint of creamy yoghurt, sharp cilantro).


What came of it was this beauty. A Thai red curry carrot soup, containing some red lentils (for protein and heft) as well as the makings of a curry: Thai red curry paste, garlic and ginger, bruised fresh lemongrass, coconut milk, fresh coriander, fresh lime juice.

I was worried about the addition of the curry paste and coconut milk, actually. Every time I've made Thai-style curries in the past, I've felt it was unbalanced -- too creamy and sweet, definitely spicy, plenty salty, but there was no sharpness, not enough sourness or pungence despite the acid of the lime juice. Lemongrass, however, was apparently the missing ingredient. Lemongrass! Suddenly, there was the deep, sour pullthat stretched the three-dimensional salty-spicy-sweet into a proper square, suddenly highlighting a new range of flavours in the curry paste that I always knew were getting lost under the silk of the coconut milk.

Anyhow, I finished off the last of this stuff a few days ago, but have another pile of carrots awaiting. Still unsure what I'll do with them, but I suspect more soup is on its way... especially if this snow sticks around.

Red Curry Carrot Soup
two dashes of oil
1 yellow/brown onion, sliced
2-3 leeks, cleaned and sliced, white and light green parts only
~1 inch ginger
2-4 cloved garlic, smashed and chopped roughly
1-3 T Thai red curry paste (I used a generous 2, but like mine spicy; heat varies by brand)
1 small stalk lemongrass, pounded (this releases the flavour but keeps it mainly intact)
2-3 handfulls red lentils, rinsed and picked through
5 medium carrots, chopped roughly (or as many as you need to use up)
stock, veg or chicken -- maybe about 3c but can be supplemented with water
1 mini can coconut milk (full fat, light, whatev)
fish sauce or salt
fresh coriander/cilantro
fresh lime

Heat your soup pot of choice over medium heat. When it's warm, add the two dashes of oil and the onion. Sautée until softened, then add leeks and sweat for a few minutes. When those have softened, add the aromatics: ginger, garlic, curry paste, and stir with a wooden spoon for about a minute, just until everything starts to release its scent. Add the lemongrass, lentils, and carrots, then enough stock/water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cover partially to avoid splattering all over your stove. Stir in the coconut milk when everything starts to soften (actually, you can probably do this when everything else goes in... I did it later), along with some fish sauce or salt. At this point, you'll be able to see if it needs more liquid -- if so, add some!

Using a fork, test the carrots -- when they are quite soft, purée the soup in a FoPro, blender, or, if you're posh, using a hand blender. Here you can also adjust the liquid; I almost always make a thicker soup than I really intend, but it makes for a concentrate that I can dilute when reheating later.

Once puréed, squeeze in the lime juice and add the chopped coriander/cilantro. Taste and adjust the seasoning as you see fit.

When I ate this the first time, I stirred in a bit of yogurt, which toned down the heat of the curry paste a bit. I ate it without the yogurt a few times, too, and that was swell. As the photo above indicates, I ate it with some dark whole-grain bread. It would taste marvelous with just about anything, though.