Roasted carrot and ginger cream

It's time for hot soups and creams, and one of my favorite cream recipes at home since I recently discovered it is this roasted carrot and ginger cream . It is a healthy soup, which when made with carrots and some roasted pumpkin in the oven greatly enhances the flavor and an exquisite cream is obtained.

Spices cannot be missing to round off the flavor -ginger is fabulous, because it also goes very well with the slight touch of coconut provided by coconut water. The ingredient list results in a delicious combination.

Roasted carrot cream has nothing to do with a traditional carrot cream. Its flavor intensifies and modifies, while providing those more woody and autumnal tones. In turn, the pumpkin, together with the ginger, give it a hue that reminds us of the most Indian flavors, I would say, full of flavors of spices.

I highly recommend it. Today I make it in a cocotte , but you can shorten the times by preparing it in a speed cooker.

Ingredients

• 350 gr carrot
• 100 g pumpkin
• 1 pinch of sugar (optional)
• 1 whole leek (the white part and the greener middle part)
• 450 gr vegetable broth
• 150 gr water
• 150 gr coconut milk (coconut water)
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 black pepper
• 1 tsp of salt
• 4 wedges of roasted garlic*
• Olive oil

*If you have them, so much the better, otherwise you can add some raw garlic to the trays along with the carrot and pumpkin, so that they soften and roast (at the first point of preparation). I recommend you read How to make Roasted Garlic and how to use it , and always have a small bottle of garlic in the fridge, they enhance the flavor of any preparation.

Le Creuset Traditional Cocotte and Naturals Nordic Ware Tray

Preparation

1. Roast carrots, squash and garlic: Peel and cut carrots lengthwise or coarsely. Also peel the pumpkin and cut it into large pieces. Arrange it all on one or more baking trays (I use the Nordic Ware Naturals for quick roasting and in small quantities). Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until roasts are observed, about 20 minutes at 200 ºC. If you did not have roasted garlic, add it to these trays in the oven to roast.
2. Prepare the cream: In the Le Creuset cocotte , apply a good splash of oil on the bottom (you can also use a tablespoon of butter if you prefer) and put it on low heat.
3. Add the roughly cut leek. Add a pinch of sugar and sauté over low heat for a few minutes, until it looks transparent.
4. Raise the heat so that the leek browns a little if it is not yet browned, season with salt and pepper to taste and add the rest of the ingredients: add the previously roasted carrot and pumpkin, the roasted garlic, the water, the vegetable broth and the coconut water.
5. Leave 20 minutes making chup chup and to amalgamate flavors (the main ingredients were already cooked previously in the oven, so it does not require much more cooking). Remove from the heat and transfer to a blender to blend (you can wait for it to warm up a bit, so as not to burn yourself).

Grades

• If you want, after crushing you can pass it through a Chinese strainer or strainer to ensure that there are no leek threads left, but it is not a cream that generally requires it (there is very little leek).
• You can serve it in tureens or mini-cocottes, with a few pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of oil, or with a drizzle of cooking cream. It's a nice presentation! Remember that there are also the Every de Le Creuset mini ceramic cocottes , they are so ideal for these creams!
• If you want to make the recipe vegan, you can substitute the butter for coconut oil.
• Another option, if you want to modify the recipe and try new things, is to substitute coconut milk for almond or oat milk. It turns out a different and curious cream. If you do it like this, when it's time to bring it to the table, decorate it with some toasted almonds.

Believe me it is a delicious cream. I say it, my family and those who have tried it, so I can only hope that you are encouraged to try it too.

And for many more chup chup en cocotte recipes!