One-Pot Ginger Carrot Maple Bisque

On a crisp fall or winter day I absolutely love a grilled cheese sandwich and a warm creamy cup of bisque. Unfortunately, I am the only one in our family who eats tomatoes so it doesn’t make sense to make a big batch of tomato bisque, but I crave that bisque and grilled cheese combo.

So, carrot bisque it is! And lets make it interesting!

Remember… this is a GINGER carrot maple bisque. The ginger comes first in the title because the flavor really stands out. You can always cut back if it isn’t to your taste.

Today we pulled the last of the carrots out of our garden (14 pounds of them) since the freezing temperatures have arrived.

This year we very haphazardly planted our carrots (Read: we dumped three partial packages of leftover seeds from the last two years into our carrot bed, which was also the same bed as last year, AAAAAND we never thinned them out). All that to say, these carrots are not going to be suitable for storage, so it is time to use them up!

I am not a fan of extra dishes, and scratch cooking and baking can really load up your sink, so I made this all in one pot. To accomplish this I used an immersion blender and a 5 quart enamel cast iron Dutch oven. If you don’t have a Dutch oven you can use a heavy bottom sauce pan.

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If you don’t have an immersion or stick blender (this is the one we have) you can use a regular blender, just be careful when you transfer to your blender (this negates the one-pot/less mess aspect of the recipe).

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds carrots (roughly chopped, stay under 3/4” in each dimension)
• 2 small yellow onions (diced)
• 5 cups veggie broth or stock
• 1 cup heavy cream (you can omit the cream for a dairy free version, just add in another cup of veggie broth during the initial cooking time)
• 8 garlic cloves (smashed)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2-2.5 tbsp of fresh ginger root (peeled and chopped)
• 1 tsp sea salt – and a little more for when you season to taste at the end
• 1/2 tsp pepper

• Heat olive oil over medium heat.
• Add salt, pepper, and onions, stirring occasionally until onions start to gain some color and have softened, 8-10 minutes
• Add the carrots, garlic cloves, and ginger stirring occasionally for another 8-10 minutes.
• Add veggie stock and apple cider vinegar and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-35 minutes. This is where the size of your chopped carrots matters. After 30 minutes poke one with a fork, if it presses in easily, they are done. If they aren’t done I like to put the lid on my Dutch oven for the last 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat, and give the mixture a moment to cool (the mixture could splash on the next step and you don’t want it to splash AND burn).
• Use your immersion blender to blend to a smooth consistency. Go slowly. Start with short pulses, and once you start to get a thicker consistency you can keep the blender on and really move it around.
• Add cream and maple syrup and blend more. Move your pot back onto low heat and bring slowly back up, keep an eye on it and and once you see bubbles, give it a good stir and its ready to go.

This bisque gives a great little kick, and a hardy warm up for a cold day. It goes great with a grilled cheese on homemade sourdough!

Someday I might take beautiful photos of food on matching plates, but today is not that day.

This year I made this bisque twice and then flat froze some portions in freezer bags to preserve and enjoy later.

To flat freeze – put your soup/bisque into freezer bags and remove as much air as possible. Then lay them flat on a sheet pan/cookie sheet and put it in your freezer. Once the contents of the bags are frozen you can take them off of the pan and stack them or stand them up (like books on a bookshelf) in your freezer.

I usually freeze some in gallon size bags and some in quart size. That way I can defrost a full meal’s worth for our whole family, or just a bowl or two’s worth for myself. Give yourself some options when you are freezing your food for later. It will keep you from wasting food later!