Panini Smoked Meat Sandwhich & Roasted Carrot Soup

Alone at home while I wait to go to work, I can think up some pretty crazy ideas when it comes to food seeing as my flavour matching still needs alot of tweeking. However, you'd have to be a total ignoramous to mess up a smoked meat sandwhich.

Seeing as the smoked meat (Montreal style has a very cured and smoked brisket) has a very powerful taste, you must pair it with equally intrusive flavours. Traditionally this includes rye bread, a side slice of kosher pickle, and mustard. I went a few steps further and put the pickle slices in the sandwhich, used grainy mustard instead of boring old prepared mustard, and added some monterey jack cheese. Sandwiched between a smoking panini press, the added crunchiness of the bread and warmth of the ingredients - lets not forget the melted cheese - really made a huge difference. With all of these very strong flavours, the sandwich was like an explosion of taste, perfect for any meal.

On a lighter more sofisticated note, I tried a recipe for roasted carrot soup that I found in a magazine entitled "The Best of Fine Cooking: Fresh, spring/summer 07". Included in this magazine are over 70 recipes geared towards the lighter seasons where - at least in the northern climates such as my own - everything is fresher especially at the farmer's market. The recipe in question is really a suprisingly smooth and yet lively taste for carrots. The liveliness comes from the ginger you add to the soup. But anyways, enough about me, here's the recipe.

Roasted Carrot Soup

1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths (try to find the freshest garden carrots you can)

1 tbs. olive oil

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 large celery rib, diced (I used a bok choy rib which worked just as well if not better)

1 tbs minced fresh ginger

2 cups chicken broth

Salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

2. Toss chopped carrots in a baking dish with olive oil and seperate so that the pieces don't touch.

3. Place carrots in oven for 30 minutes, turn and cook for another 30 minutes.

4. Sauté onion in butter in a medium saucepan till translucent. Add celery (or bok choy) and ginger and cook for another 4-5 minutes.

5. Add roasted carrots, chicken broth, 2 cups of water, salt and pepper. Bring to boil then reduce to medium simmer for about 45 minutes covered.

6. Once cooked, let the soup cool completely.

7. Once cooled, purée soup in a blender and place to cool for a few hour or, better yet, overnight. When ready to eat, just reheat soup and enjoy.