Carrot soup with cream and roasted pistachios or Karroten creme mit gerösteten Pistazienkernen

Carrots. Rabbits.  That`s what I think of when I see carrots.  I`m not a huge fan.  My mom used to have a bag of carrots for us to snack on after school.  For some reason, they always made me hungrier.  I don`t mind them, really, but I do not like cooked carrots at all.  Anytime they are mixed in with a meal, I will pick them out.  I don`t know what it is about them....

Maybe I am getting older (well, I know I am), or being in a different country is encouraging more of a `just try it`attitude, but when I tried the carrot soup for the first time a few weeks ago*, I did not think I would like it at all.  Boy was I wrong.

What you need:

1 kg of carrots, peeled, ends chopped off and cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 liter of vegetable bouillon
enough sugar to glaze the carrot and onion tops
vollrahm to whip or Schlagrahm
50-75g butter
pistachio kernels
salt and pepper to taste.



In a pan, melt about 25g of the butter. Chop the carrots and onions, but don`t worry about making them small as you will blend them at the end.  Briefly saute, then glaze with sugar and mix.

Put the bouillon in a large pot and add the carrots and onions.  Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and another 25g of butter.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and allow a fork to easily pass through them.

If you are using vollrahm, use a whisk to beat it up until thickened.  About 2 minutes (with an electric one).

Briefly saute the pistachios in some more butter. Set aside.

Remove the pan from the heat and using an immersion blender, blend up the chunks until everything is smooth.

Pour into a bowl and top with the cream and pistachios.  Serve immediately as the cream will start melting quickly.

I think it tastes best when the cream is then mixed into the soup.

Enjoy!

*Also a cooking class find, though as we are not given measurements most of the time, I may have been a little off.

Apple cake

Living in the US made me want to make things conveniently... buying prepackaged dinners, buying take out, and definitely baking from mixes.  While I still do bake from mixes, I have found some recipes that allow me to think the end result is worth the effort.  This recipe was one of the simplest ones I`ve seen, did not require a lot of effort, and tasted fantastic.    Which makes it even better!

This was the dessert from our cooking class earlier this week, and since I didn`t get many pictures, so I made it today so I could post it.

What you need:
125g butter
125g sugar
200g flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1-4 Tbls milk (I used 2)
2 green apples, cut into slices
lemon zest (didn`t have any, so I used a squirt of lemon juice)



Cream the butter and then add the sugar.

Add the flour and baking powder, stir.
Add the eggs and mix well.  Add the milk and pour into your prepared pan.

In class, we used a 25cm Springform pan, but as I don`t have one, I used one of my many cake pans. This one is a 10 in, 2 in deep pan. I used a piece of baking paper, coated with butter to prevent sticking, in the pan. It worked beautifully.  The cake came out very easily, both out of the pan (make sure you have enough extra paper to lift), and out of the paper.  I removed it while it was still warm.

and the one from class, with a springform pan:

Peel the apples and cut them into slices. Arrange them on top of the cake batter, pressing down slightly.

Bake at 200 C for 35-40 minutes.  It only took mine 35 minutes.  You can check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean (through the thickest point of the cake), it is done.

I sprinkled some sugar on top

This is the one from class (I added a few more apples to mine):

Serve with ice-cream.  Another suggestion, I wish I had thought of before baking, but will try again, is to melt some caramel and swirl it into the cake batter. Should be great. Guess there`s my reason to make it again.

Super simple! Enjoy!