Carrot-Ginger Velvet

From Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold.

The development of a recipe: Sounded delicious in my head, could almost taste it on my palate, could see its brilliant color and feel its creamy texture--like velvet on my tongue. But it took many tries to get it right.

1 1/2 pounds fresh carrots (with carrot tops, if possible), plus 2 large carrots for roasting (see note)
3-inch piece of fresh ginger, yielding 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger juice (see note)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Trim the carrots, saving the carrot tops. Peel the carrots and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Put them in a medium-size pot with 4 cups water and 1 1/2 teaspoons sale. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook, covered, for 35 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft.

Transfer the carrots to a food processor and puree until very smooth, slowly adding cooking water as you go. All the water should be incorporated. Add the ginger juice and heavy cream and process.

Gently heat the soup before serving, adding a few tablespoons of water if necessary.

Serve with julienned oven-roasted carrots and a few leaves from carrot tops.

Makes 1 quart, serving 4 or 5

Notes: To oven-roast carrots: Preheat the oven to 400&degree;. Put the washed, unpeeled carrots in a pie tin or on roasting pan and bake 50 minutes, or until soft. Let cool. Peel. Cut into matchstick-size julienne.

To prepare ginger juice: Peel the ginger with a small, sharp knife. Grate on the large holes of a box grater. Put the grated ginger in paper towel and squeeze the juice from ginger. You will have about 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons.

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