Party Food Part 1: Chilled Carrot Soup Shooters and Roasted Cauliflower Hummus

My good friend and health industry colleague Dr. Meggie Smith of Chiropractic First in Evanston invited me to join her during the Downtown Evanston Wine Walk last week to do "something fun" in her office since she was one of the wine walk stops. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what to do and then I figured, Hey! Why don't I provide the food?

I assumed other stops might serve cheese, charcuterie or chocolate to go with their wine so I thought, "Why not serve some more non-traditional, veggie-centric appetizers?" It's so easy to fill a table of apps with the things I listed above (I do when I have people over, cheese is awesome!) but sometimes veggies get left out or treated like second-rate citizens of Appetizerlandia. 

Thanks to everyone who asked for the recipes, I am posting two here! (Two more will come next week!) Enjoy!

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CHILLED CARROT SOUP SHOOTER

Serves: Many, many, people if you serve this in small cups as a 3oz "shot" of soup (perfect if you're not doing a sit-down app course). You can freeze this soup if you have too much (or cut the quantities in half). NOTE: I got this recipe from Gourmande in the Kitchen. I've made it many times with slightly different variations but the below is the best combo in my humble opinion.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp unfiltered coconut oil
4 spring onions, white and light green parts, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger (more if you LOVE ginger)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
4 lbs carrots, sliced
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh grated turmeric root
Enough water to just cover the ingredients in the pot (about 6-8 cups)
Cilantro to garnish

Directions:

• Melt the oil over medium-low heat.
• Add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Sauté them for 2 minutes or so, do not let the spring onions brown at all.
• Add in the carrots, salt, cinnamon and turmeric, and heat for a few more minutes, stirring to coat the carrots in the mixture. 
• Add water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes. 
• Puree the soup in a blender, Vitamix or immersion blender. 
• ​Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

The most awesome thing about this soup is that it's amazing as a warm soup in the fall/winter and as a chilled soup in the summer! Don't be afraid to make "too much". It will be eaten :)

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ROASTED CAULIFLOWER HUMMUS

Makes: About 4 cups

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
1 head of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil to coat cauliflower for roasting, 2 tbsp for hummus-making
1/2 tsp coconut oil to roast garlic
1/3 cup tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Chop up cauliflower into small florets; toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and a little bit of salt and place on a foil or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet or roasting pan.
• Slice off the tips of the head of garlic; place your 1/2 tsp of coconut oil on the sliced portion and then wrap in foil.
• Roast the cauliflower for about 30 minutes (turning once half-way through cooking) while you roast the garlic for an hour.
• Once cooked, place cauliflower, 4-5 cloves from the roasted garlic, the rest of the olive oil, tahini and lemon juice in a blender. Blend well until creamy and no large chunks of cauliflower are present.
• Serve with sliced veggies/pita chips/anything you want!