Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook!
I’m so happy to be finished with the two fava bean weeks. I really, really tried to like them…
This week, I’m relieved to be working with carrots! And it’s been a really fun week 🙂
Let’s consider the carrot for a moment: the bridesmaid of the produce department. Almost always in a supporting role, rarely the star. And yet, the carrot is perfectly comfortable to play a vital role in the all-important mirepoix, equally comfortable being consumed raw or cooked and loved by young and old alike. And let’s not forget the important role the carrots played in the story of Stone Soup! It is called out as providing color and flavor to the soup.
Carrots are also good for you. They contain beta carotene, antioxidants, fiber, vitamin K, potassium and vitamin B. Carrots may lower your cholesterol and aid in weight loss.
Carrots even had their very own press agent during World War II: according to the British government, the Royal Air Force owed its pilots’ keen night vision to their abundant consumption of carrots. The Brits more likely created this story to obfuscate the fact that they had developed radar, which was probably much more useful than carrots in nighttime air missions. Or, as my geeky husband said “more ‘vitamin gigahertz’ than ‘vitamin A!'” 😉
Still, it is true that beta carotene is utilized by the body to generate vitamin A, which is associated with eye health. I know I grew up being told that carrots are good for your eyes, as I’m sure many of you did, also.
Carrots come in all shapes, colors and sizes. The larger carrots tend to be more mature and can be sweeter. When shopping for carrots at the farmer’s market, remember that the more glamorous the greens on the carrots, the fresher they are. Fresher carrots just taste better, but if all you can get are the “baby” carrots in bags at your store, then go for it–just remember that they aren’t actually baby carrots–they are actually the broken pieces that used to get thrown away because they weren’t attractive enough to put onto store shelves. I actually love the story of the “baby” carrots because it is an example of someone who hated to throw away all that perfectly good produce and just had a great idea. Today, the bagged, “baby” carrots are the best selling carrots on the market due to their convenience.
So let’s get started with several uses for carrots that perhaps you hadn’t considered, mostly in supporting roles, but hopefully in a couple of unexpected ways.
This week, I’m featuring carrots prepared in the following ways: roasted, in a celery root and carrot slaw, in carrot cornbread, glazed, pickled and as a dessert in easy skillet carrot cake.
On Saturday, I made a good old pot of beans. With the beans, I served this delicious carrot cake spiced cornbread:
With the chili and cornbread, I served a green salad featuring these delicious pickled carrots, cauliflower and onions:
On Sunday night, I made this beautiful salmon with pesto and cherry tomatoes.
With it, I served roasted carrots:
Monday night, we had bar-b-que chicken, leftover beans and celery root and carrot slaw:
Tuesday night, we had chili made with leftover beans and the remainder of the carrot cornbread and a nice green salad made with pickled carrots and other vegetables.
Wednesday, we had herb-crusted lamb chops, orzo pasta pilaf and steamed asparagus:
And for dessert, we had this super easy skillet carrot cake!
Thursday night, we had cod fish with herbs baked in parchment paper, orzo pasta and roasted carrots and asparagus:
Finally, on Friday, I roasted a chicken and we had glazed carrots and celery root and cabbage slaw:
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed carrot week as much as I did! And tune in again next week when I will be featuring cherries in lots of interesting and fun recipes! Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
