Elegance

Elegance; graceful, simple, beautiful.

A restaurant chef is always looking for the fastest and cheapest way to create something delicious that a customer will love. We throw carrots mindlessly into stocks and sauces. This recipe is incredibly simple and delicious and comes almost straight out of letters to a young chef. Of course, there are myriad flavors which pair beautifully with the carrot but for the sake of this recipe we want to keep it as simple as possible.

With any vegetable based soup, I start with a puree of the theme ingredient. If I can thin out the soup with the juice of that ingredient, it will be a beautiful clean soup. The carrot is a perfect example.

We start by glazing the carrots in their own juice and olive oil. Cook the carrots over low heat in a fair amount quality olive oil - about twice as much as you would normally use. The fat becomes a carrot-infused oil that will emulsify when the soup is pureed and enrich the finished product. With this method we capture the fat soluble flavors of the carrot with the oil. We use the oil to cook the carrot to represent the silky texture of cooked carrot and we add a lipid element that coats the mouth with the sweet flavor of carrot. To the sweating carrots, add fresh carrot juice, chopped ginger, coriander seed.

Once the carrots are cooked and the juice has reduced all the way down - puree the mixture and pass it through a sieve. Chill completely. When the puree has chilled, thin it with more fresh carrot juice. Season with ginger juice, lemon juice, salt, sugar, cayenne. This is your soup.