Root veggie bearnaise

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I love Bearnaise sauce but most of all I love tarragon. This carrot parsnip puree actually tastes surprisingly close to Bearnaise but is much healthier. It's a fun and unusual side dish. Serve with meat (I've tried both steak and lamb and I'm sure chicken would work too) and a salad. And don't forget a good red wine!

From Enjoy Wine & Spirits Magazine #7, March 2010.

~1 lb (400 g) carrot
~1 lb (400 g) parsnips
water

1 onion
4 Tbs white wine vinegar
4 white pepper corns
1 bunch tarragon
5/6 cups (200 ml) water
½ stick (50 g) butter
salt

Peel and cut carrots and parsnips in smaller pieces. Strain the water and puree the carrots and the parsnips with a immersion blender.
Finely chop the onion. Boil onion, white pepper corns, tarragon in white wine vinegra and water. Make sure all the liquid is absorbed. Throw away the pepper corns.
Add the tarragon-onion mix to the carrot-parsnip puree and butter. Add salt to taste.

Italian Lentil Soup (with parsnips and carrots...)

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I found this soup at the great blog Anne's Food. I have to say I agree with Anne though, I'm not quite sure what makes it Italian... In fact I would like to go even further and say I don't think the Lentil part is a good name either. Sure there's lentils in it but they are no way the main feature or main flavour. If being in the soup is enough to give it the name it might as well be called parsnip soup or carrot soup or potato soup. I guess if I got to name it I would have rather named it Carrot parsnip lentil soup.

Any way. The name doesn't really matter does it. What matter is that this soup was delicious and filling. Yet another soup that has been a regular on our menu this winter.

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2-3 carrots
2 parsnips
3 potatoes
½ cup (100 ml) red lentils
2.5 oz. (70 g) bacon (I doubled this, what can I say we like bacon...)
3.5 cups (800 ml) vegetable stock
3/4 cup (200 ml) milk
cup (100 ml) cream
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper
butter

Chop onion and garlic. Peel the carrots, parsnips and potatoes, and cut into coins and dice, respectively. Cut the bacon into strips.

Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until it's lightly browned. Add some butter and the onions, garlic, carrots and parsnips. Fry for five minutes, then add lentils and potatoes. Fry for a few more minutes, then add water, stock, thyme and bay leaves.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Add milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper.

Carrot soup

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I've had this recipe saved on my computer for about a year. I've made it several times and both me and J love it. I wanted to blog about it but couldn't remember where I had found it (stupid me saved it in my Google docs and didn't add the source) and I didn't want to claim it as mine. I knew it was somewhere online, most likely on a blog but not a food blog (as I wasn't really reading any food blogs a year ago). After lots of searching I FINALLY managed to find my source so here it is for you to enjoy!

Adapted from Stinkerpants.com

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrot, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 medium potato, chopped (optional, for heartier soup)
3-4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1-2 small cloves crushed garlic
1/3 cup chopped cashews or almonds or peanuts
(chicken)

Choose one:
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt or buttermilk plus a little honey
1/2 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)

Seasoning choices:
-2 pinches of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon dried mint, dash of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon each of thyme, marjoram and basil
-1 teaspoon grated ginger

Place carrots, potato and stock in a medium sized stock pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer it for 12-15 minutes or until carrots are soft.

In a pan saute onions, garlic and nuts in butter. Towards the end of cooking, stir in the seasoning combo of your choice. Add the onion mix to the soup and puree everything with an immersion blender or a regular blender until smooth. Finally whisk in one of the dairy products.

* I've only tried the nutmeg-mint-cinnamon seasoning but I'm sure the other options are just as good. I usually use chicken stock though vegetable would work just as well and make it suitable for vegetarians. On the other hand if you really want to make sure it's non-veg you can add some shredded chicken when serving :)