Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

A few weeks ago I was asked to help out with creating a menu for Japan Night, an event at my church where a missionary family was sharing about their vision for Japan.  We definitely wanted something that was Japanese, or at lease Asian-inspired, and would be easy enough for a small team to cook for upwards of 100 guests in a couple of hours.  After testing a few recipes at home, we ended up with the following menu:

Green Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame

Matcha Mochi Cupcakes

The spring rolls we bought frozen and just baked them in the oven, but everything else was pretty much made from scratch!

The carrot ginger dressing is the same bright orange dressing you often get at sushi restaurants before the start of a meal.  I never really knew what was in it and had guessed some type of citrus and probably soy, but in fact the main components are carrots, ginger, and miso!  This totally boggles my mind because I normally don't really like carrots or ginger (in a non-sweet dish) but I can't get enough of this dressing.  It must be the miso.  =)

Carrot Ginger Dressing (adapted from goop)

makes a little over a pint

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh peeled ginger
1 tablespoon sweet white miso
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed oil
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons water

Pulse the carrot, shallot and ginger in a blender until finely chopped.

Scrape down the sides, add the miso, vinegar and sesame seed oil and whiz together. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the canola oil and the water.

The dressing will keep refrigerated in an air-tight container for about a week.

I like to eat this over butter lettuce, but we used a mesclun salad at Japan Night.

Next up:  Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame

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Roasted Carrot Soup

Look at what I got in my last Boston Organics delivery!

 
Aren't they cute?  I don't even like carrots, and I can't get over how pretty these were.  I knew I definitely wanted to roast them because I've always loved how the carrots look in this post on high-heat roasted vegetables from The Kitchn.  But I didn't really want to eat them after because, again, I don't like carrots.

Then I found this recipe for roasted carrot soup on Food52 which uses fresh thyme, which I was still trying to use up after the Caramelized Onion and Swiss Chard Quiche and Garlic Thyme Popcorn, and everything magically fell into place.  ^_^

Roasted Carrot Soup (adapted from Food52)
makes 4 servings

1 1/4 lbs. carrots (about 9 small carrots)
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt
4 cups vegetable stock (good quality, not too high in sodium)
1 piece ginger, an inch long, peeled
1 sprig thyme, plus more for garnish
1 small sweet onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Popcorn (optional)

 
Peel the carrots, and halve or quarter the larger carrots lengthwise so that they are all about 1/2-inch thick.

 
On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.

 
Set an oven rack 6 to 8 inches from the heat source and turn on the broiler. Broil the carrots until they brown and soften, turning them over with tongs every 5 minutes or so; this should take 15 to 20 minutes.  Once the carrots have cooled, chop them up into bite-sized pieces.

Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil, add the ginger and the sprig of thyme and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

 
Put the onion in a medium stock pot with the remaining olive oil. Brown the onion over medium heat, stirring frequently.

 
Add the garlic and then add the carrots to the onions once they have browned.

 
Remove the ginger and thyme from the stock and add the stock to the pot with the onions and carrots. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to puree.

Use an immersion or a standard blender to puree the mixture until smooth. If the soup seems too thick, add more stock or water and reheat gently. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, garnish with fresh thyme and a few pieces of popcorn.

 
The final verdict:  I liked how creamy the soup was even without any added cream.  But it still tasted like carrots.  =/  If you like carrots, you'll like this soup.  In the meantime, I think I'll stick to making Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, Carrot Cake Ice Cream, or Curried Carrot Soup the next time I get carrots.  Or maybe I should just put carrots on my no-list again.

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Curried Carrot Soup

I got yet another bag of baby carrots in my Boston Organics delivery last week and suddenly remembered one way (other than carrot cake or carrot cake ice cream) that I've enjoyed carrots: in a curried soup. I don't even remember where I first tried it; I think it was either at Au Bon Pain or in one of the soup cartons from Trader Joe's. I just remembered that I couldn't really taste the carrots, which is exactly what I was looking for.

A quick google search gave me Rachael Ray's version as the first hit. It looked simple enough, but I added a few tweaks. I used half an onion and replaced the other half with a shallot since it was all I had. I also halved the amount of butter, added 2 teaspoons of fresh, chopped ginger, and replaced the sour cream with nonfat plain yogurt.

Curried Carrot Soup (adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe here)
makes 4-6 servings

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh peeled ginger, finely chopped
1 pound packaged baby carrots
2 (13.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
Nonfat plain yogurt
Snipped scallions (optional)

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions, shallots, ginger, and carrots and saute 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, curry and cayenne, and about 1 teaspoon salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, carefully puree the soup. Alternatively, you can use a blender to puree the soup in small batches.

Ladle into bowls and top with a heaping spoonful of yogurt (or sour cream) and scallions.

If you don't have yogurt or sour cream, you can also add a swirl of cream into the soup to balance out the spices, but you'll lose the tanginess of the yogurt.

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Carrot Cake Ice Cream

I did say that the next time I got carrots in my Boston Organics delivery I would make carrot cake ice cream, and I am a woman of my word. I basically followed David Lebovitz's recipe from the L.A. Times except I substituted raisins and rum for the currants and whiskey for the simple reason that I didn't have the latter two.

Carrot Cake Ice Cream (based on David Lebovitz's recipe here)
makes about 1 quart

For the rum-soaked raisins:

1/4 cup raisins
2 tablespoons rum

Combine the raisins and rum in a small bowl. Cover and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

For the spiced pecans:

1 cup pecan halves
1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350 °F. Toss the pecans with the butter.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar and salt. Pour the mixture over the pecans and toss to coat completely.

Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and cook for 12 minutes, gently stirring halfway during baking to candy the nuts. Remove the tray to a rack and cool the nuts completely. Once cool, coarsely chop the pecans. Set aside.

For the candied carrots:

2 cups finely diced carrots
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups water

In a medium saucepan, combine the carrots, sugar, corn syrup and water. Bring to a low boil and cook until the syrup is reduced to about 2 tablespoons and the carrots are translucent and candied, 20 to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the carrots during the last few minutes so they do not burn. Drain the carrots and set aside to cool.

For the ice cream base and assembly:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sour cream (regular or low-fat)

2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon chopped lemon zest
Spiced pecans
Rum-soaked raisins
Candied carrots

In a large bowl using a hand mixer, blend together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and lemon zest until smooth. Chill thoroughly.

Freeze the base in an ice cream maker. After churning, gently fold in the spiced pecans, soaked raisins, and candied carrot cubes. Freeze until firm.

This was definitely one of the prettiest ice creams I've ever made. The candied carrots almost glowed like semi-precious gems studding the white canvas of the ice cream, and the matte brown of the spice pecans added a nice change up of texture. As for the taste, while it didn't taste exactly like a carrot cake, I did like how you couldn't taste the carrots. My favorite part was the spiced pecans, probably because of the butter and spices. If I made this again, I'd probably add some more of the spices to the ice cream base itself to make it more reminiscent of a carrot cake.

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Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I don't like carrots but ended up with a whole pound of them from Boston Organics in my latest delivery. This wouldn't have been a problem back when I was a kid because my brother liked them, so anytime I had carrots I would just give them to him. But now that my brother lives on the opposite side of the country, I am forced to do things like make carrot cake cupcakes. Alas, the tragedy of it all. By the way, my brother's birthday is this Sunday so happy birthday, Timmy, and pretend I made and mailed these to you!

Carrot Cake With Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (based on the recipe from Tartelette's site)
makes 30 cupcakes

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound carrots, grated medium fine

For the frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese softened
2 1/ 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Zest of 1 orange
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs at high speed until light and frothy, about one minute. Decrease the speed to medium and add the oil, vanilla, sugar, and salt and mix just until combines. Decrease the speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined. Using a spatula, fold in the carrots.

Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter. Bake for 18 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and zest with an electric mixer. Start on low speed and then increase to medium high speed and beat until smooth. Add the butter and mix on medium speed until just fluffy and smotth, about 45 seconds. Add the vanilla and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat.

The original recipe was for a layer cake, but I thought it translated well to cupcake form. The only issue I had was for the first batch I filled the liners about 2/3 - 3/4 full and the batter ended up overflowing onto the tin when it baked. Adding orange rind to the cream cheese frosting is ingenious and adds a vibrant aromatic and a very subtle whiff of tartness to the otherwise very sweet topping. If I had wanted to go the extra mile, I would've added a sprinkle of additional orange zest on top or maybe finely chopped crystallized ginger. I thought about a carrot curl, but then I'd be defeating the purpose of making these cupcakes because I don't like the taste of carrots.

Off to Mount Tremblant and Montreal!

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