Project 12: Month 7: Chilled Carrot-Mango Soup and Mussels in Tomato-Wine Sauce

Author: Funkstop
Date: October 1, 2011
Categories: All things Cultured, Cooking, Health, Photography, Project12
MusselsTomatoSauce
Chilled Carrot Mango Soup
I’m finally getting around to posting some of the previous month meals. This one is for August. It was pretty easy in terms of choosing ‘what’ to make – nothing in the fridge, so had a complete clean slate to work with.

Setting the scene: The day was boiling hot, and I had spent the day at the beach, so was looking forward to having something refreshing. I imagined myself sitting on a patio in Toronto and what I would love to eat in those steamy summer nights. After walking around the grocery store for a couple minutes, here was the menu I came up with:
 
Chilled Carrot-Mango soup and Mussels in Tomato-wine sauce. Both first time attempts for me…


So here we go: Ingredients & Prep:

Carrot-Mango Soup:
  • Oil
  • 1/3 cup chopped onion
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 1 lbs sliced carrots (I used pre-cut shredded carrots)
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup sliced mango
  • 1 jalapeno (chopped)
  • 4 cups soup broth (I used chicken)
  • Corriander (to garnish)
Mussels:

  • Oil
  • 2/3 cups chopped onion
  • 1 tblspoon crushed garlic
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups Chardonnay
  • 2lbs mussels
PreCooked Mussels

Mussel Prep: I cheated a bit and bought mussels pre-cleaned so just had to rince with cold water and separate out the ‘dead’ ones. After rinsing them, just dump them on a tray (or sink) and pick out any mussels that are open or broken.

Carrots In Blender Cooking: Now the cooking begins! I actually started the carrot soup before prepping anything for the mussels since it’s a chilled soup and needs to be put in the fridge.

  1. Heat some oil in a large pot and add the chopped white onion and cumin seeds.
  2. Once the onions are a bit translucent, slowly pour in the broth and bring it to a boil again.
  3. Next, add in the carrots and jalapeno – the carrots should be submerged by the broth. if not, add a bit more water and continue to boil until the carrots are soft.
  4. Next transfer it all to a blender, add the orange juice and mango, and then puree.
  5. Stick it in the fridge (I put it in the freezer) to chill.
Mussels Boiling in Pot So while the carrot soup is chillin, start with the mussels. Turns out that cooking mussels is pretty easy. Who knew?? I always thought there was so much work that had to go into making mussels.

  1. Heat some oil and add the chopped onions and crushed garlic. Keep cooking until the onions are translucent (Seems like deja vu. seems like deja vu)
  2. Add in the diced tomatoes, white wine, and bring the mix to a boil
  3. Add the mussels, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
  4. As a bonus – One thing that I did have was some left-over baguette. Sliced it up and voila – crusty bread as a side for the mussels.
 
 
 
 
Took about total 2.5 hours – but that’s only because of the soup which needed to chill. The mussels only took about 25 minutes – I gotta experiment with different recipes. Overall i think this one ranks pretty high on the healthy meter –although the soup is pretty high in natural sugars I guess.
«
»

    Comments or Questions? Voice them here!