Some people are born to bake. They know how to follow instructions, can measure quantities with surprising accuracy and are patient enough to do things like let dough rise or bring ingredients to room temperature. Others are a bit more implusive, too impatient to wait for their ingredients (but I want cookies now!), too rebellious to follow a recipe’s instructions, tweaking and changing things as they see fit. These people may turn out some good cookies and cakes, but they’ll never be bakers at heart.

I think I fall into the latter category, and so my attempts and cookies and muffins are never as successful as attempts at soups, mains and sides. Whenever I’m baking, I feel like I’m throwing everything into a bowl and crossing my fingers. I can’t taste and adjust, add a little more of some ingredient, try different accompaniments. I’m coming to terms with it. I’ll never be a baker at heart.

Tangent over, now back to regularly scheduled programming…Thanksgiving. I mentioned on Monday that I’m using this week to test out some new Thanksgiving recipes. The first was a rousing, raging success: Carrot Pumpkin Soup with crushed hazelnuts. (Thanks again to Oh! Nuts for those hazelnuts! They’re so very delicious!)

I had some ground rules for this soup recipe. Since it’s just me and my mom cooking for a large crowd, it had to be somewhat simple. No simmering for hours, straining, simmering or making a roux. There will be enough of that with all of the other Thanksgiving dishes. This soup is super simple — a quick saute of shallots, carrots and garlic, then add some canned (or pureed) pumpkin and stock and simmer for awhile. Run it through with an immersion blender, then stir in some cream, smoked paprika and sherry vinegar. Top it all off with a good drizzle of olive oil and some crushed hazelnut and you’ve got a bright orange, smoky sweet soup that’s perfect for a Thanksgiving first course.

Continue reading ‘Thanksgiving Test Recipe: Carrot Pumpkin Soup’