I know what you’re thinking—carrot soup? But trust me—it’s really good! Carrots are very sweet and tender this time of year and the fresh ginger adds a little heat to balance out the sweetness of the carrots. The color of the soup is also amazing and you can either serve the soup hot or cold.

You can roast the carrots and caramelize to sweeten their flavor even further, but I prefer to slowly simmer the carrots with celery, onions, fresh ginger, sparkling apple cider and water so that I retain the vivid color of the carrots. I also finish with a small amount of cream to smooth out the texture and pass through a china cap/strainer to remove any fibers. I finished the soup with deep fried shredded carrots, sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. You can also garnish with lemon creme fraiche and chervil which adds a nice contrasting color. Enjoy!

I love French Onion soup—but it takes a long time to make—especially if you do it right. I caramelized the onions slowly for two hours before adding all the other ingredients and then simmered the soup for at least another hour to blend all of the flavors—not to mention how long it took to slice the onions! But it was worth crying over, because the soup came out very sweet, flavorful, full-bodied, with a deep chestnut color.

I used three different types of onions for the soup; Sweet Maui Onions, Spanish Onions and Red Onions. But you can also add shallots and leeks and make a five onion soup if you prefer. I added lots of fresh chopped thyme, minced garlic and deglazed with ruby port and pale dry sherry. For the stock, I used a combination of dark chicken stock and veal stock. To finish the soup, I grilled Italian filione bread with olive oil, salt and pepper and cut it into cubes (much easier to eat than using a whole slice of crostini) and topped the soup with a combination of shredded Swiss and Parmesan cheese. Place the soup bowl under the salamander or broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese and top with fresh chopped chives and parsley. It’s awesome!

We have had absolutely beautiful weather in the Bay Area for the entire month of March.  Everyday has been sunny with temperatures ranging from 70–75 degrees.  Of course, now that Spring has arrived we have showers and cooler temperatures.  But the crops need the rain, as well as our reservoir and so a couple a days of showers will do the region a lot of good.  

So I thought that it would be a perfect day to make Asparagus Puree.  Asparagus is in season, the stalks are tender, sweet and have a beautiful green “granny-smith apple” color with purple-tinged tips.  A perfect soup for spring or early summer that can be served either hot or cold. 

To start, dice leeks, onions and celery and saute in canola until soft.  Once softened, add chopped garlic, fresh thyme, season with salt and pepper and deglaze with white wine.  Reduce wine, add butter and dust surface with flour.  Stir to combine all ingredients and add chicken stock to cover and a small amount of heavy cream.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. 

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add kosher salt (so that it tastes like seawater) and trim the bottom of the asparagus stalks to remove any tough stems.  Cook for approximately 5 minutes until asparagus are tender but still retain their vibrant color.   When finished, immediately immerse asparagus in an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Drain the asparagus, rough chop and set aside.

To finish, pour chicken stock/cream mixture into a large container and blend with a beurre mixer or in a blender until combined.  Add chopped asparagus and a small amount of fresh spinach leaves and blend again.  Adjust consistency and seasonings by adding additional cream, butter, chicken stock, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.   Strain soup through a medium sized china cap or sieve to remove any fibers from the asparagus—the soup should have a smooth, creamy consistency.   You can garnish with you choice of with fresh herbs, creme fraiche, truffle oil or rendered pancetta.

When the weather gets cold outside, and it has been quite chilly in the Bay Area this week, I like to serve hearty soups such as Tuscan White Bean with Pancetta, Italian Sausage, Cavolo Nero and Parmesan Gremolata.  This soup has beautiful colors with the red tomato broth, white beans and dark green leafy kale and it tastes really great too!

To start, soak white cannellini beans overnight in lots of water along with bay leaf, thyme sprigs and a couple cloves of garlic. To cook the beans, drain the soaking water and add beans to a large pot and cover with plenty of fresh water.  Bring the beans to a boil and then turn down to a low simmer and cook until al dente. Drain beans and set aside.

Meanwhile, roast a bunch of roma tomatoes (slice in half and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper) in a 400-degree oven until slightly charred. Cool tomatoes and then remove the skins and seeds.  Divide the tomatoes in half—blend half of the tomatoes and rough chop the other half.  Combine tomatoes together in a bowl and set aside for the soup. 

In a large pot, sauté diced pancetta (or you can use apple wood smoked bacon) in olive oil until fat has been rendered.  Add crumbled Italian sausage (either hot or mild) and cook until no longer pink. Next add medium diced carrots, onion and celery, along with chopped herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oregano and minced garlic. Cook the mixture for about five minutes to soften the vegetables and then add the chopped roasted tomatoes, chicken stock to almost cover, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Bring soup to a slight boil and then turn down and simmer for about 40 minutes to let the flavors combine.

To finish the soup add the white cannellini beans and chopped cavolo nero. Cavolo Nero is Tuscan kale and referred to as black cabbage because of the dark forest green/black leaves. The kale is very tender and almost lacy in texture and retains its color when cooked. If you can’t find cavolo nero then you can use regular kale, swiss chard, collard greens or spinach. Cook the soup for another five minutes to soften the kale and then taste again and re-season if necessary.

To garnish the soup, I made a parmesan gremolata, as it adds a fresh, tangy flavor and bright finish to the soup. Gremolata is normally made with minced parsley, lemon zest and minced garlic. To make my version, shred or grate really good parmesan and place in a bowl, along with finely minced garlic, chopped parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. To serve, sprinkle the soup with lots of the parmesan gremolata and enjoy!

I’ve been really busy at the restaurant lately with start of the holiday season and as a result I haven’t been able to create any new specials.  However, I did make a soup today that I’d like to share with you, Charred Sweet Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup.  The color of this soup is really vivid, the flavor is sweet and smoky and the texture is creamy and smooth.  What more could you ask for?

To start, I char the peppers (red and yellow) on the grill over high heat (turning often), but you can also roast in a 400 degree oven until charred and soft.  Once the peppers are evenly charred, set aside in a bowl until they are cool enough to handle.  Once the peppers are cool, remove the stem and seeds (but keep the skins on) and set aside. 

While the peppers are roasting, rough chop the mirepoix and caramelize in a large pan until golden.  Add chopped garlic and sauté for a few more minutes and deglaze with white wine and brandy (I like using brandy because it goes well with the sweetness of the pepper).  Once the wine/brandy is reduced, stir in tomato paste, chopped thyme and bayleaf.  Next, add your charred peppers and tomatoes and chicken stock to almost cover.  You can make this soup without tomatoes, but I prefer an acidic balance to the sweet peppers and I also like the color that the tomatoes provide.  Normally, I would roast fresh roma tomatoes, but today I decided to use good quality canned tomatoes and they work just as well.   Just remember, if you want the soup to taste like bell peppers then you need to add less tomatoes.

Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for about an hour until the vegetables are soft.  Prior to the last 15 minutes of cooking, add a small amount of heavy cream and butter (both optional) and season with salt and pepper to taste.

At work, we use an industrialized hand-held blender called an immersion blender (or a Bermixer) and it works really well for blending soups to a smooth consistency.  The longer you blend the smoother it gets.  If you don’t have a heavy-duty, hand-held blender you could use a regular blender or a food processor.  However, if you use a food processor, you may want to strain the soup through a large strainer to capture any large skins/fibers from the peppers.  And if you use a blender, then the soup will be thicker and you’ll need to adjust the consistency with stock, water or cream.  To finish the soup, taste again; add some lemon juice and salt to bring it all together. 

I chose to garnish this soup with a contrasting color so that the garnish would really pop against the color of the soup. The fried flat-leaf parsley against the burnt sienna color looks beautiful.  You need to be careful when frying parsley and using it as a garnish because the flavor becomes bitter.  But against the sweetness of the bell peppers, it works perfectly and has a nice balance.

Enjoy!!