Sichuan Carrot Soup

Ever since I had it at the now defunct Sunroom spin-off (the one formerly on Odana), I've been wanting to attempt a Sichuan carrot soup. And now I've done it! ;) This version from The Art of Doing Stuff is a pretty decent version. I included the directions for making it on the stove top, but I did it in the crockpot. Let's see. I left out the sugar, as per usual, and I at least doubled, if not tripled, the red pepper flakes. It is afterall Sichuan, so it should be on the the kick-your-ass end of the spicy spectrum. I may not have added the milk at all, and if I did, it would've been plain almond milk. I also threw in some leftover roasted chicken. I pureed it with a stick blender, but I kept a few of the carrot chunks since I'm not a huge fan of completely pureed soups.

Rata-tat-touille

Glossy veggies all oiled up and ready for roasting

So I'm very proud of this ratatouille. I had scads of eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini, and this dish is a go-to in that situation. In the past, the vegetables became too mushy when I cooked them on the stovetop, so roasting them was a revelation. My dinner guests didn't dig eggplant, so I pureed it and added it as a thickener. I also added chicken and grated parmesan to spice up the leftovers.

Finished product