recipe hijack

it was way too cold to think about anything other than how many clothes i could pile on top of each other this morning, so i'm not even gonna try. instead, a recipe! i should do this more. now that i'm in school i'm actually cooking less, partially because i'm so busy and partially because after baking for over 5 hours the night before the last thing i want to do on my night off is slave away in a kitchen. last night, however, i got an unexpected night off (snow day woooo!) so i decided to try my hand at one of my favorite recipes from my favorite sushi place in chicago, kaze. one of the soups on the menu is total crack and comes in a tiny little cup that i always literally lick clean. it's a miso carrot soup with king crab, and it is to diiiie for. having worked at the restaurant, i had a vague idea of what goes into the soup, so i decided to try my hand at it last night. the results were incredibly delicous, and i post them here for your viewing/cooking pleasure.



what you need:

3-4 med carrots, peeled and chopped
about a quart of miso broth
2-3 chopped garlic cloves
small yellow onion, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
crab legs - i used snow crab, but king crab would be delicious (if expensive)
a couple T butter
spices: i used ground fennel, white pepper, tarragon, a touch of mustard, and a littttle cayenne, but you can tweak as you like
optional: chives, rice cracker

total cooking time: about 20-30 minutes. and if you have some of the basics (spices, butter) at home, it's pretty cheap! made the whole she-bang and bought a $9 hitachino to go along with it for less than $20.

simmer the carrots in the miso broth for about 15 minutes, or until the carrots are soft. add chopped garlic as it cooks. after about 10 minutes, start to sautée onion until it just starts to turn yellow. add to soup. use a bit more butter to sautée the crab legs (break the meat up into bite sized pieces) for a couple of minutes until they are warm and slightly browned. turn off the pan and let them sit while you use an immersion blender/food processor/regular blender to mix the miso/carrot/onion mixture with the spices you decide to add. add about 1/2 a cup of cream until the soup is lightened in color. whip a little of the cream (you want it unsweetened) and set aside. put the crab in the bottom of a bowl and pour the soup on top, topping off with a dollop of the unsweetened cream and a chive, with a rice cracker on the side if you like. ta-da! warning: there is a reason why kaze serves this soup in small doses. it is extremely rich.

enjoy!

xo audrey