~~FRENCH LEEK & POTATO SOUP,2ways with GLAZED CARROTs~~with DORIE & FFwD~~

 GIVEAWAY UPDATE~~CLICK HERE TO ENTER 100$ GIVEAWAY, u'll love it i know:-)

Oh there's a nip in the air , more than ever, and as i love the weather , i think i should simmer some soup, oh im so clever....

Ok ,ok , i tend to get lyrical at Christmas  time to the point of being silly and hope u'll put up with me , for all the love u and me share.
And i know u want to get that pot of soup simmering ,as muc i do, so lemme get going!
Ahh and one important thing before i go ahead, do have some crusty bread rolls at hand , to warm and with a spread of soft salted butter , this soup makes a complete meal!
Oh yeah ,the carrots are fantastic too !

 French Fridays with Dorie, is exciting , and more so , as we are cooking our way thru, our taste buds and the gorgeous book!
U have to hop by there and catch all the deliciousness and if u wanna add a french factor these hols , buy the book and join in too.

Lets begin quickly, to a soup , 2 ways and glazed carrot with shrimps , 2 ways too!



My Joseph Joseph cutting board see's the lite of the day.....

 Coz its red and its Christmas time + it becomes a colander or a perfect way to add the chopped veggies to the pot , with a deft of a move...
I love thiNgs like these...very muc...

 Ahh ,the cast of Characters ,PW would say , and we are soon going to have a very delicious soup jus with these.
See how pretty the leeks are !

 And garlic , i love Garlic...

Yeah , yeah , this garlic keeper rocks too!

 And can never quite get enough of it , yeah i over do Garlic , but isnt it so aromatically delicious?

Oh the leaks are getting prettier too {remember all these go into the pot ok}

 Pink Sliced onion....that forms the base of the soup with a a good 2 tbh butter and pinch of sugar and salt.

It should have been thyme or sage , but i played with RoseMary and was happy i did!

 Now im soon goging to run out of French salt...{yeah mom , i know i have more stashed away:-), i promise i wont buy more till i finish what i have}

 Well butter is warmed , the onions lightly browned with a pinch of salt and sugar, and the rest of the players added , with 9 cups chicken stock {or part milk}
And while that simmered in my fav pressure cooker , i went herb picking , rite out , yeah these are garlic chives , loving cared for by ur truly:-)

They are my new fav herb , amazing flavor and oh so fresh!and my herb scissor does a wonderful job of chopping them too...

Oh , im not done yet , these are from my garden too....

 Up close and personal...

 and these baby spinach too , i grew them from the cut out roots of the spinach we got from the local market:-)

 Parsley adds fantastic garnish to the soup..

 Holly and tomatoes are getting to be frens ....its Christmas time u know...

I love my Christmas bowl......

Rite from soup to dessert , it has a sweet Christmas time message for all....

 And while i engaged u in all this talk , our soups ready...first Chunky...without using the blender in the pot....

 So good.....and delicious.....added some warm milk while serving...

 Some garnish and ur done ...ahh , i did add in some chopped Basil too..

And the soup pureed rite in the pot , with a hand held blender.

 Fantastic ...so simple , yet so good....

 So french too , add in some garnish and ur good...i can think of how gorgeous this will be with some chicken pieces....And some shrimps too....

Some artwork for u...so pretty ...so french!

SPICED BUTTER GLAZED CARROTS

Since we are doing things the way the French too , and loving it all , we sure have Dorie to thank for! These couldn get more holiday than this , spice spells Christmas time...

Torn between orange and red {well almost } carrots...

 but not for long...i chose these.....and quite easily ,so was barely torn or was i? Hardly a difficult choice there...
I didn weigh them ,jus added  the 6 i had:-)

getting the rite cut.......2 different cuts ie..

U need to add the onion, garlic, ginger and cardamon to the butter....and all am going to show u below too , remember we have to spice the butter a bit:-)
I did add some aromatic fennel....

Pretty onion....

 sliced  or u can chop finely too...

added to butter in a dutch oven, with some french salt and sugar....and spices......

Lodsa garlic....

 Beautiful Ginger ....

 

and grated ....

colored peppers...whole...

 and cardamon , which i added to my battery auto pepper mill, fresh cardamon ,everytime , at the press of a button.

 ITs fantastic for morning cereal or meats alike and love that u get some whole and some ground, this gadget has a little lite too below,jus so u can see whats going in or not!

 And here's Santa , bringing u all good things....

Yeah , butter , aint it a good thing? and kept the french way too!

Cook all till soft in butter , add carrots to glaze.....and yeah i did add some prawns too...
and some chicken stock {water and powder worked fine with me}, bring things to a boil , and simmer till all the water dries up....

And lods of butter and garlic later....u have a deliciousness to go with any soup , crusty bread or plain steamed ,garlic rice....
Or maybe Cinnamon rice.....

What ur left with is a nice buttery spiced glaze and oh so fragrant carrots....

ahh , i did forget to mention , did i , that i added some shrimps here too...

Dont leave out a sprinkle of home grown garlic chives...and market bought parsley.....

 A sprinkle makes it pretty and lovely and flavorful too...

Couldn resist ,addin a wee bit of honey to the already sweet carrots either...

See the fennel is so well glazed too...

And everything is so well glazed ,aint it...

A bite , jus for u..........

And for me too..

XOXO and Happy Holidays......next post ----cookies , lodsa ways:-))