Thursday Recipe - Purple Potato Soup and Ginger Carrot Soup

It's been nasty weather and very cold here. Add in sick kids and soup is the answer. I came across some recipes in this cookbook and used them for my inspiration.

The purple potato soup is very simple, but very tasty. I had roasted garlic in my fridge from a 5-lb bag I bought a month ago. Instructions for roasting garlic are here. Just wear disposable gloves and plan on smelling garlic for a while. We tried peeling the garlic before roasting this time and it worked okay. The taste is better if you roast them as whole heads, though. Less bitter.

Of course I couldn't make the soups as written. I had to make my own versions so here they are. They were inspired by the recipes in the book, though.

By the way, if you're looking for a good soup cookbook, this is a nice one. It has a wide range of ingredients and tastes, including Moroccan and African soups, something you don't usually find in my area. Ingredients are given in both European/metric units and traditional American units.

The potato soup is bright purple because I used purple potatoes. Yes, you can find such a thing. I used them out of the fingerling potato mix from Costco. But you can use any potatoes you want for the soup. It just won't be a gorgeous purple color.

Yes, the potatoes really are that color.

Purple Potato Soup

4 c. diced potatoes (don't peel them if they're small)
2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. rosemary
1/4 c. roasted garlic
1/4 c. milk, rice milk, coconut milk, or cream

Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and add water just until they are mostly covered. Add the garlic salt and rosemary. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are very soft. Add the garlic. Use your trusty stick blender to cream everything into a smooth soup. Stir in the milk. Serve hot with croutons or fresh bread. Garnish with parmesan cheese or parsley if you want.

Ginger Carrot Soup

1 T. butter
2 T. thinly sliced onion
5 medium carrots, thinly sliced (about 4 c.)
1/2 c. thinly sliced potato
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
2 t. ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion. Cook until onion is very soft. Add the rest of the ingredients. (I used my trusty salad shooter to slice everything straight into the pot.) Add just enough water to barely reach the top layer of carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes until everything is very soft. Pull out your trusty stick blender and cream it all into a smooth soup.