Carrot Soup with Herbs de Provence (leftover carrots)

It never ceases to surprise us how you can make great food by using a small amount of the least interesting ingredients. Though this couldn't sound more boring, the texture and flavor of this soup—a version of which can be found in a thousand cookbooks—are great. Herbed foccacia helps too.

Carrot Soup with Herbs de Provence

1-2 lbs carrots (whatever is left over in your bag), peeled, chopped roughly
2 potatoes, peeled and diced, and placed in a bowl of water. Type does not matter, though russet is preferable.
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp herbs de Provence
Parsley, chopped (optional)
Salt to taste

1. Heat a large saucepan and add the olive oil and butter.
2. Add carrots, and cook over medium high heat for about 15 minutes, or until slightly browned. If you burn them, order pizza.
3. Add the onions, lower the heat, and stir until onions are slightly yellowed.
4. Add potatoes and the water they came in. Fill the rest of the pot with water until the vegetables are covered.
5. Cook for about 1 hour, until everything is happily mushy. Add water if necessary.
6. Using an immersion blender, turn everything into a smooth, silky texture (add water if it's too thick). Add some salt and continue until well seasoned.
7. Add some of the herbs de provence, cook for a minute or so, and taste.
8. Continue adding herbs de provence until the flavor is perfect. (Since we don't know how many carrots you had, or how big your potatoes were, we'll have to trust your judgment).
9. Add water or salt as necessary to adjust seasoning.
10. Serve garnished with parsley and sea salt.

Roast Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup

Fall is here and winter squash has appeared in the farm markets. Our favorite is a big rural stand that works on the honor system. You select, bag, and weigh your own produce, calculate your total using a pad and golf pencil, and then place your money in a rusty iron box. A sign asks you not to peel the corn before buying it (this is a very stupid thing to do, btw.). If you get a bad ear, take a free one next time.

Butternut squash and sweet potatoes both love chipotles, so here's an easy, tasty soup that goes terrific with cornbread.

Roast Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup

1 large butternut squash, cored, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
½ chipotle pepper and extra adobo sauce
Stock (chicken/vegetable)
Parsley for garnish
Olive oil

1. Heat oven to 400. Put butternut squash on a sheet pan and toss with enough olive oil to coat
2. Bake about 20 minutes, flipping occasionally. Do not burn. It's done when it's soft.
3. Fry onions in oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring often for about two minutes or so.
4. Turn down the heat and add a pinch of sugar, continuing to stir until lightly carmelized.
5. Add the roast squash, chipotles and adobo, some salt, and cover with stock and water (about half and half. For a more delicate soup, you could just use water).
6. Cook about 20 minutes.
7. Puree and adjust seasoning (that means to add more salt if it needs it).
8. Serve garnished with parsley. If you're looking to make friends and impress people, you could puree your parsley with sour cream and water, and drizzle their initials on the soup. But a nice hunk of coarsely chopped parsley tastes good too.

Leftover Shrimp: Bisque

We live in a rural area, and usually can't find specialty ingredients to play with. This means that when the craving for seared foie gras with cherry compote hits, the only course of action is to take a cold shower. The raw and windy weather recently put us in the mood for some seafood stew. We looked longingly at the 823-step Julia Child recipe for lobster bisque, but went in a different direction using some of the only reliable seafood we can get here – bags of flash-frozen shrimp.

Shrimp Bisque

½ pound shrimp, cleaned, deveined, and shells on
15-20 extra shrimp shells (when using shrimp for stir-fries, we toss the shells into a bag in the freezer)
¼ cup brandy (E&J is fine)
¼ cup dry sherry
2 tbl tomato paste
1 cup half and half
½ cup whole milk
4 tbl flour
4 tbl plus ½ tbl butter
2 medium shallots, chopped finely
1 tbl olive oil
½ tsp cayenne pepper

1. Slowly sauté shallots with the olive oil and ½ tablespoon butter. Add a tiny sprinkle of kosher salt. Cook until they appear light purple and are soft. Add cayenne pepper.
2. Turn heat up and add tomato paste. Fry tomato paste for a minute or so, until the smell coming from the pot is very tomato-ey.
3. Add the shrimp. Cook until they curl up and are turning pink. Add the brandy and cook until it evaporates, then add the sherry and cook until it evaporates. Take the pot off the heat and cool.
4. Take the shells off the shrimp. Return the shrimp meat to the tomato mixture, and put the shells plus the extra shells from the freezer into another saucepan. Cover with 2 cups of water and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Drain the shrimp stock, discard the shells, and add the stock to the shrimp mixture. Put this mixture in batches into the food processor. Process until smooth, with only a little bit of chunkiness from the shrimp.
5. In another pot, cook the 4 tablespoons of butter with the flour until the floury smell is gone. Add the half and half and milk, and bring to the boil, or until it has thickened.
6. Add the shrimp mixture, stirring vigorously, and bring the bisque almost to a boil. Taste for seasoning.

We slurped with chopped scallions and croutons baked with garlic and thyme. The next day it made a great dip for crackers.