Carrot-Ginger Soup

A contributed recipe from Terri in WI.


Ginger Carrot Soup (serves 8)

2 Tbls sweet cream butter
2 onions, chopped
6 cups chicken broth
2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
2 Tbls fresh grated ginger
1 cup whipping cream
salt and pepper
sour cream
parsley sprigs for garnish

In a 6 quart pan, over medium heat, add butter and onions, cook until limp.  Add
broth, carrots and ginger.  Cover and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer
until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat and transfer to blender.  Blend in batches, using a towel over
the blender cover because it'll leak and make a mess (always does when I'm making
it!), pulse first, then puree until smooth.  Return to pan, add whipping cream. 
Stir over high heat until hot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with dollops of sour cream and parlsey for garnish.


**Terri's comments**
I use baby carrots.  Less fuss, you don't have to peel or even cut them up,
and they're sweeter.  I just think they make the soup taste better.

I've grated the ginger, pushed it through a garlic press, and chopped it. 
It ends up that chopping it works best... it seems you won't tend to get
the fine hair-like strands of ginger in the soup if you chop.

I've used chicken broth, boullion (sp?), vegetable broth and part canned
broth/part water and it all seems to work fine.  The vegetable broth seems
to smell different when you're cooking it, I was a little worried the first
time I tried it, but it ended up tasting just the same in the end.

DO NOT skimp on the whipping cream!  I usually cut the recipe in half, but
end up still using close to a cup of cream.  It really makes the recipe. 
Don't think about the calories, just enjoy!!

Finally... another DO NOT skimp... the sour cream. Full fat, lite, fat
free... whatever you like!  It's always better with the sour cream.