a mug of sunshine: carrot soup with ginger and orange

After the opulent Christmas cooking I'm craving "clean" and simple food again. You know what I mean: a few ingredients like vegetable, fruit and  herbs can make such a quick and delicious (and healthy) meal. I put "healthy" in parentheses because in the past, the h-word was the most reliable motivation killer for my children to like my cooking. Healthy equaled "muesli" and uncool; in consequence: not desirable at all.
Once I learned to avoid the word in question things got immediately better. From then on only the taste decided!

After all, it's funny that the position of the family's health maniac has been seized by my sweet 20 year old daughter in the meantime. And - I must confess- better than I'd have ever been capable!

Carrot soup with ginger and orange 

750g carrots, chopped

1 onion, diced

a piece of ginger (walnut size), sliced

the juice of half an orange (or more to taste)

vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

oil to sprinkle over the soup (olive, flaxseed, argan, sesame...)

Put the carrots, the onion and the ginger in a saucepan, cover generously with vegetable stock.

Bring to a boil, then let the carrots simmer for about 15 minutes until tender but not pappy. Process with a hand blender until smooth.

Add the orange juice and stir.

Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oil  into each mug. 

Top the soup with a few stripes of green. I took portulaca leaves.

Instead of the greens you may prefer to top the soup with a cappuccino of milk foam.

Enjoy!

the easiest Tarte Tatin (sort of) ever

Are you already bored with my apple recipes?  No?

This short little recipe is a must if you love the combination of caramel and fruit and if you've not too much time to spend on baking. It's inspired by  the genuine Tarte Tatin, by a recipe I stumbled upon in La Cazuela Vegana and by David Lebovitz's Upside Down Cake.

You simply need:

3 tbs butter
100g sugar
4-6 apples
juice of 1/2 lemon

frozen puff pastry

1.layer
Melt the butter in a cake pan, add the sugar and cook while stirring until the sugar is melted and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. layer
Peel and slice the apples, sprinkle with lemon juice and arrange them spiralwise on the 1. layer.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

3.layer:
Top the apples with a layer of puff pastry (rolled out in the shape of the cake form).
Before you put it into the oven, poke a few holes into the pastry as an outlet for the steam.

Bake it for about 20 minutes until the puff pastry turns golden. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then place a cake plate on top and flip the cake out on to the plate.

As David Lebovitz suggests, have also a try with plums, abricots, pears, or nectarines. Or  replace the puff pastry by the original pate brisée or by cake batter. Bon appétit!