Happy Easter!
It’s spring. Well, I shouldn’t say that. It’s spring in some parts of Canada. Here in Newfoundland we are still clearing up snow from our blizzard last week. In most parts of the country the markets are full to bursting with new spring vegetables: tender carrots, tiny potatoes, fresh peas. Here in St. John’s it’s time to clean out the dregs of our winter supply, and most produce around here is either flaccid or unripe. So we make soup.
This soup will be served as a starter at our Easter dinner on Sunday. If a soup could be considered to be light and fluffy, it would be this one. In fact (and I may have texted this to the Pie when I made it), I bet if you put the Easter Bunny in a blender and heated him up he would taste a lot like this soup: sweet, a little bit spicy, a hint of ginger, and chock-full of carrots.
This recipe is simple, and takes very little time.
I have here 2 bunches of “new” carrots (which in reality were bendy and dried-out), 4 Bosc pears (which I unsuccessfully tried to ripen for three days), a handful of mildly hot peppers, and 2 onions.
Chop those puppies up and toss them in a pot. Add a whole carton of chicken broth (about 4 cups, or a litre), and top the rest up with water.
Chuck in as well a few teaspoons of minced ginger (two will probably do it, as the minced stuff is wicked strong) and a healthy dollop of dijon mustard.
Add in a few tablespoons of sweet chili sauce as well.
Simmer that like crazy until all the vegetables are tender.
Remove it from the heat and use an immersion blender (or a regular blender) to turn it all into an orange pulp.
If you’ve picked a really hot pepper for your soup, you might want to serve it with a dollop of sour cream, or maybe some green onions for garnish. It’s also lovely just as it is. You can freeze it easily and bring it out whenever you need a taste of spring.
