Carrot and Maple Syrup Soup
Jul/0921
Earlier today I was making a Carrot and Maple Syrup Soup in preparation for dinner tonight (it’s a starter that we’re having as part of a Christmas in July dinner that we’re having for a few friends) and I tweeted that I was making it.
So many people asked for the recipe that I thought I’d share it here in full rather than in 140 character bites.
I should say that this is a recipe we got from a ‘Delicious’ Magazine (August 2009) (pretty sure that’s only available in Australia).
- Preheat an oven to 180 degrees celcius (350 f).
- Line a roasting tray with baking paper. Chop up 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of Carrots (into 1-2cm (0.5-1 inch) segments) and put it in the tray.
- Grate 2-3cm (an inch) of Ginger over the top of the Carrot.
- Finely chop up a couple of cloves of Garlic and sprinkle over the top of the Carrot and Ginger.
- Drizzle a third of a cup of Maple Syrup and 2 table spoons of Olive Oil over the top.
- Season it with Salt and Pepper and mix it all around (toss it a little) so that the Carrots are covered with the syrup and oil.
- Place the tray into the oven for 30 minutes (actually for me it took a little longer) or until the carrot is starting to go soft. Turn (or give it another mix) after 15 or so minutes.
- Put the carrot mixture (including all the yummy juices) into a saucepan with 4 cups of either Chicken or Vegetable stock.
- Season it and bring it to the boil. Then let it simmer (covered) for 20 minutes (until the Carrot is really soft).
- Blend/Puree the mixture until it is smooth using a hand blender.
- Serve the soup in bowls with another drizzle of Maple Syrup and some creme fraiche and a garnish of chives.
- The recipe suggests serving it with buttermilk scones but we’ve got some yummy bread as it’s a starter for our meal and not the main dish.
I hope the conversions I’ve done for those of you not used to metric measurements are OK :-)
I’ve not taken a picture of the final dish yet but the one above is during the roasting stage (taken with my iPhone so don’t expect too much of the pic).
Update: The soup was a hit – rich, sweet and a lovely deep golden color. It was a great way to start the meal.
How I Meditate – Examen
Jul/0927
A number of people have emailed me in the last few days asking about what methods of meditation I use (after I mentioned that I meditate in my previous post on the Rest/Work matrix) – so I thought I’d take the opportunity to describe one method that I’ve found to be very helpful.
Image by Baloulumix
The meditation is actually an ancient one – it’s called Examen of Consciousness (sometimes just called Examen) and it was developed by St. Ignatious Loyola (that’s a picture of him below – I think he’s blogging).
Examen a Christian meditation but I’m sure people of other faith backgrounds could use much of it with some modification and that even those who don’t practice any religion could benefit from some of the exercise too. I’ll write it up primarily as I practice it (I’m sure there are many variations) and from the Christian perspective but do feel free to adapt and fit it to your own situation.
The point of Examen is to find the movement of God in our daily lives as we review the day that we’ve just had (or are having). As a result I find that it’s best to do at the end of the day (I quite often use it in bed and fall asleep part way through).
The meditation has 5 stages or steps and can take as long as you have. I usually take 10-15 minutes to move through it but occasionally do a longer one looking back further than the day I’ve just had (ie it can be done looking back over a week, month, year or more).
