Tag: carrot soup

  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: How to Braise Leeks for Roasted Carrot Soup

    by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLCs

    Today, I’m excited that I completed the requirements and received my certification for the Plantlab Culinary Fundamentals of Plant-based Cooking 120-hour course, including knife skills, 61 cooking projects, written exams, and my Final Project.

    I’ll be sharing so much of my learning in future blogs and am also sharing my Final Project with you. My Final Culinary Project embraces our local Arizona farmers’ veggies with a menu featuring some of my favorite dishes and skills learned during the course.

    Let’s take a look at our local Arizona Winter produce in my Final Project.

    Arizona Winter Harvest Menu

    • FIRST. Roasted Carrot Soup.
      • Navel Orange Braised Leeks. Almond Cream. Edible Flowers.
    • SECOND. Sprouted Spelt Flatbread.
      • Arizona Winter Roasted Veggies. Pistachio Pesto. Almond Bechamel Sauce.
    • THIRD. Cacao Crepe.
      • Chickpea Crepe. Apples. Arizona Citrus Marmalade.
    • DRINK. Root Matcha Latte.
      • Chicory Root. Dandelion Root. Matcha Tea. Cashew Milk. Warm Spices.

    NAVEL ORANGE BRAISED LEEKS

    In the past, I’ve only eaten leeks in restaurants and love them, so I decided to include leeks as a green contrast to the sweet roasted carrot soup.

    Today, I’m sharing the recipes and cooking process for Braised Leeks, Almond Nut Cream, and plating of the Roasted Carrot Soup. Hope this inspires you to cook interesting soups.

    Almond Nut Cream

     INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup almonds, soaked 8-12 hours and rinsed
    • 2 cups filtered water
    • Pinch salt
    • 1/2 tsp sumac powder
    • 1 tsp grapeseed oil

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    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Blend the almonds and water until smooth.
    • Stain in nut bag.
    • Return strained almond cream to blender and blend with salt and sumac.
    • Gradually stream in oil on low to emulsify.

    BRAISED LEEKS: INGREDIENTS

      • 3 leeks, cut into 1-1 ½ inch pieces
      • 2 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
      • 2 tbsp shallots, minced
      • ½ tsp coriander seeds
      • ½ tsp caraway seeds
      • ¼ cup vegetable stock
      • Pinch sea salt
      • 2 tbsp fresh navel orange juice
      • 1 tbsp navel orange zest
      • 1 cup almond cream
      • 1/2 cup almond cream
      • ¼ tsp sumac
      • 1 tbsp orange zest

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    ORANGE BRAISED LEEKS

    SIMPLE STEPS

    Prep

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    • Clean leeks in cold water in a bowl to removed dirt between the layers.
    • Cut white and green part of  leeks into 1-1 ½ inch rounds.

    Sear Leeks

    • Heat olive oil in medium-high saute pan.
    • Add leeks to pan with round side face down on the pan.  Press leeks down with spatula to evenly  brown, for about 5 minutes. While cooking move leeks around pan to prevent them from sticking to the pan. After the first end has lightly browned flip and brown the other end.
    • Once both sides have browned, remove from pan and set aside.

    Cook Braising Sauce

    • Add shallot, coriander and caraway seeds to pan and sauté until shallot becomes translucent.
    • Add vegetable stock, salt, orange juice, and 1 tbsp  orange zest and bring to a boil.
    • Add almond cream and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce to a simmer.

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    Braised Leeks

    • Remove pan from stove, add leeks to pan with round side up.
    • Cover the pan with a tight oven-safe lid.
    • Place pan in oven to braise the leeks for 5 to 7 minutes, or until soft and tender when pierced with a fork.
    • Remove leeks from pan and set aside for plating.

    Almond Cream

    • Add ½ cup almond cream, sumac, and 1 tbsp navel orange  zest to pan.
    • Return pan to stove top and simmer, whisking frequently, until cream becomes thick. Once the sauce reaches desired thickness, remove from heat.

    ASSEMBLY

    • Place braised leeks, with round side up on bottom of flat bowl. Gently pour carrot soup into the bowl, with the tops of the leeks exposed.
    • Drizzle almond cream sauce on top of the leeks.
    • Garnish with edible flowers.

    The Roasted Carrot Soup. Orange Braised Leeks. Almond Nut Cream

    Happy to share a video look at the soup…

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    Interested in my book, A New View of Healthy Eating, I’m happy to mail a copy to you.

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  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Roasted Carrot Soup

    by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    I love beautiful food, simple plant-based cooking, and continually learning plant-based culinary. Since my birthday in November 2017, I’ve been enrolled in the Plantlab Culinary Cooking Fundamentals Course. Although I’ve been teaching Whole Foods Cooking at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts since March 2015, have led hundreds of cooking workshops and classes, and completed the Rouxbe Professional Plant-based Course in January 2015, I always love to learn more culinary.

    For the Final Project in the Plantlab Culinary Course, my First course is Roasted Carrot Soup. Orange Braised Leeks.  This course was inspired by local Arizona farmers’ carrots and our Winter Arizona citrus season. Today, I’m happy to share with you the recipe some photos of the Roasted Carrot Soup.

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    Roasted Carrot Soup. Orange Braised Leeks.

    A light, fresh soup showcasing local  Arizona farmers’ carrots and leeks. Thanks so much to Steadfast Farm for the beautiful carrots. Love their delicate beauty and how their flavor tastes like  the real carrots  I enjoyed as a kid. And, thanks to McClendon Select for the leeks. In the past I would order a dish with leeks at restaurants, now I’m enjoying braised leeks with carrot soup and roasted leeks on flatbread.

    INGREDIENTS

     

    • 2 pounds local Arizona farmers yellow and orange carrots
    • 2-3 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
    • Dash sea salt
    • 1 shallot, sliced
    • 1 tsp organic extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 tsp coriander seeds
    • 1 tsp caraway seeds
    • ¼ tsp sumac (love this lemon flavor)
    • 2 quarts veggie stock
    • ½ tbsp sea salt
    • 1 Bouquet
      • 2 bay leaves
      • 1 bunch lemon verbena
      • ¼ bunch parsley
      • ½ Arizona navel orange, sliced
    • 2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
    • 1 orange, zested

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    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Roast carrots (blend) and leeks (keep chunky)
      • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
      • Peel and cut carrots into 2” pieces.
      • Toss carrots in organic extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.
      • Place carrots on parchment-lined sheet plan
      • Roast for 15 minutes.
      • Flip carrots
      • Roast another 12-15 minutes

     

    • Cook Soup
      • Peel and slice shallot.
      • In large soup pot, sweat shallot with olive oil, coriander and caraway seeds for 5 minutes.
      • Add stock, salt, and carrots to the pot.
      • Bring to a boil.
      • Add the bouquet and lower to simmer.
      • Simmer for 30 minutes.
      • Season with orange juice and zest.
      • Blend until smooth.

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    The beautiful,  sweet roasted carrot soup. I’ll also blog the Braised Leeks recipe.

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    A-soup-close-up-side-IMG_1736If you enjoy Melanie Albert’s recipes and perspectives, purchase her book, “A New View of Healthy Eating

    Please share your veggie soup creations with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating