Velvety Carrot Soup with Ginger

This is a fairly sweet soup with just a subtle hint of gingery flavor. I made this the day before I served it and I think the overnight stay in the fridge was a good thing as the flavor seemed a little bland to me the day it was made. Soup is finished with some diced Fuji apple and a squeeze of lemon. It would be really good in a thermos on a cold day sitting in the stands.

Notes:

1. soup takes a bit longer to prepare than many carrot soups because step one is the making of a very nice one-hour vegetable broth. Since I don't care for store-bought vegetable stock, this is a nice quick alternative that I can use in other soups.

2. Had to add quite a bit of salt to bring out flavor as the vegetable broth has no salt. Also the carrots are so sweet that the salt balances the dish.

3. Served with toasted baguette rounds topped with "Last of the Yakima Peppers" peperonata (Fine Cooking Fresh -- Fall 2007).

4. Might play with this recipe a little bit next time -- add some curry maybe.