Month: August 2018

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 pounds packaged baby carrots, from produce section

6 cups chicken stock, available on soup aisle

1 tablespoon mild curry paste or 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Coarse salt

1 cup sour cream

Plastic condiment bottle or medium plastic food storage bag

6 blades fresh chives, cut into 1-inch pieces

 

Directions:

 

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions and carrots and saute 5 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock, 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. Place pot on a trivet next to food processor. Process soup in 2 or 3 small batches until soup is smooth and carrots are fully pureed. Transfer processed soup into a large bowl as you work to make room for more soup in the food processor. Return completed soup to the soup pot and place back over low heat. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock, up to 2 cups, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings. Place sour cream in a plastic condiment squeeze bottle or into a medium food storage bag. Cut a very small hole in the corner of the bag with scissors. Ladle soup into bowls and squirt a swirl of sour cream around the bowl from the center out to the rim. Drag a toothpick from the center of the bowls out to the edges, forming a spider web design on soup. Pile a few pieces of cut chives at the center of each bowl to resemble green spiders in their webs! Cool!

Cook’s Note

Timing note: Start the soup, then the steak dipping sauce. Prepare the garlic for the shrimp. Cook the steak bites and shrimp at the same time, five minutes before you eat.

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely minced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 1/2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat
• 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (made from 4 or 5 slices white bread with the crusts removed and processed in food processor)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, plus more if needed 
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves, plus whole leaves, for garnish
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper 
• 1 recipe Garlic Aioli with Celery Root, for serving, recipe follows
• Lemon wedges, for garnish

Garlic Aioli with Celery Root:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• About 2 cups shredded celery root, shredded using the grater attachment of a food processor or a mandoline
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives