Chilled Carrot Soup
How do you make a carrot taste more like a carrot and yet taste completely original at the same time? Turn it into a cold soup — a bright, fresh, satiny elixir, a spoonful of which tastes like a whole gardenful of carrots in your mouth.
Even better, the cold soup technique is one of the easiest things you can learn in the kitchen, and it uses flavors at their peak.
Here’s how it works: Choose your vegetable, then cook it, blend it, adjust the consistency with a liquid if necessary, season and strain.
Root vegetables such as carrots, turnips and beets, you glaze--that is, cook in a little bit of liquid and butter until that liquid evaporates and the vegetables become coated with the shiny, sweet reduction of the cooking liquid. For an amazingly intense and fresh burst of cold carrot flavor, the canape chef at the French Laundry glazes the carrots not in water, but in carrot juice.
From the story: Chill out!
Simmer carrots, 2 1/2 cups carrot juice, butter, honey and dash curry powder, if desired, in saucepan until liquid has evaporated, about 1 hour. Add cream, bring to simmer and cook 3 minutes.
Puree in blender with remaining carrot juice until smooth, about 2 minutes. Push through fine mesh strainer, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour.
Divide among 6 chilled soup bowls and garnish with sweet pea shoots.
Keller is chef at the French Laundry in the Napa Valley. Ruhlman is author of “The Soul of a Chef” (Viking, $26.95). Keller and Ruhlman are co-authors of “The French Laundry Cookbook” (Artisan, $50).
Get our Cooking newsletter.
Your roundup of inspiring recipes and kitchen tricks.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
