A few years ago I went to a wine tasting thing at Whole Foods. It was a good deal. For something like $5, I got a glass, tastes of 5 different wines, 5 bites of complementing foods, and booklet listing the wines and recipes. It was fun to try new things with relatively low risk – and of course anything I liked I could purchase while in the store. My favorite thing was a delicious carrot salad, which I’ve thought about many times over the years.

In fact, I mentioned this carrot salad two years ago when I made pici pasta. When I attempted it then, the carrot salad came out too soupy, I found the recipe unclear, and the amazing flavor I had remembered didn’t come through in the final product. Even so, I never forgot that carrot salad and I’ve thought of it from time to time when too many carrots lingered in the fridge.

Then recently, Pinterest showed me some beautiful pictures of carrot salads and I decided it was time to try again. I did a bunch of research, I made a list of the ingredients I’d like to include, and I started to create my own salad. Two years ago when I tried this I was put off by the idea that this was like coleslaw. I find coleslaw kind of unappetizing because it’s usually swimming in mayonnaise, and I’m not a great fan of things smothered in mayo. But, coleslaw doesn’t have to be in mayo! People, I looked it up.

Seriously, the English major in me went to the dictionary and here it is: coleslaw is usually made of shredded cabbage, but something also carrots and other vegetables, and those vegetables are dressed with mayonnaise OR vinaigrette. So yes, technically this is coleslaw because it is dressed with vinaigrette.

But this is so much better than your regular coleslaw. It’s got lots of ferocious crunch, a hint of sweetness, bright citrus and cilantro flavors, and just a bit of moisture from the dressing. Ryan and I had it as a side with some roast chicken, I had it as a late night snack, perfect to bring to lunch and add something healthy to your work day, and it would be great to bring to a picnic. And finally, as I said when I made roasted broccoli – I’m always looking for new and delicious ways to make vegetables and this will definitely do it.

Messy level: Fairly easy clean up. The messiest part is grating the carrots, but if you buy them already shredded then that’s one less tool to clean. Otherwise, it’s basically all chopping, measuring, and mixing. Once you add the vinaigrette the carrots will get a bit damp and some liquid will collect at the bottom of the bowl, but this is unlikely to create much of a spill or mess.

Raw Carrot Salad

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Serves: 2.5 cups

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• juice from half a lemon
• 2 teaspoons agave or honey
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch of pepper
• pinch of cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrots (about 2-3 medium to large carrots)
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup chopped pecans
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. In a small jar with a lid, or in a bowl, add the olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, agave, cumin, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. If using the jar cover with the lid and shake until well mixed. If using a bowl, whisk all the ingredient together until well mixed. Set aside
2. In a medium bowl add the grated carrots, raisins, pecans and pumpkin seeds. Mix until everything is mixed and all the ingredients are spread through out.
3. Pour the vinaigrette over the grated carrot mixture. Stir so that everything is coated.
4. Add in the cilantro and mix gently.
5. Sprinkle a little extra cilantro on top if desired. Serve!

3.3.3070

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I’ve started to do online grocery delivery. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like grocery shopping but sometimes it can be a real pain. Before I started work I had all the time in the world to go to the store and it was always fairly empty, I could read labels and not be pumped. I could muse over which brands to buy. And the checkout lines were short. It was glorious. And then I started work and I had to shop with the crowd on the weekends or after work. There’s children crying, people stopping their carts in the middle of the aisle, and general crowded nonsense. It’s exhausting and takes all the fun out of wandering around and pondering what looks good.

Online shopping has changed all that. No more carrying heavy bags, bumping into people, and long lines. Online delivery means I plan meals so I get home from work and have everything I need for dinner. It means I can order tons of heavy juice containers or the obscure ingredient I can’t find on the shelves. But if I’m honest, every time I place an order I make a mistake. Usually it’s been a small one. I order two cans of something when I only meant to order one. Or I order a giant carton of milk when I meant to order just a pint. But my biggest mistake has to do with carrots. I meant to order four carrots and I ordered four, 1 kilogram bags of carrots. SO MANY CARROTS.

So I’ve been doing carrot everything. I’ve put carrots in a stir fry, I’ve roasted them, and I even made a carrot and coriander soup. But still, there were more carrots. I hit the internet and searched for recipes that used lots of carrots. There are all kinds of crazy carrot recipes out there. Do you know there is such a thing as carrot jam? Anyway, I decided I wanted to make a carrot bread but so many recipes I found were more like cake layered with tons of cream cheese frosting. Now, don’t get it twisted, this bread isn’t so healthy either. It has a whole cup of brown sugar. But, I wanted a bread with the appearance of health. There’s a lot of nice things about this bread. It’s moist, has a lovely flavor that reminds me of oranges and molasses, and it’s easy to make. The downfall, I only needed to use one carrot. One. Just one carrot. Sigh.

When I found this recipe, I was drawn to it because it comes from Mark Bittman. His books, How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, were two of the first cookbooks I bought myself. They are giant cookbooks that really helped me learn to cook. The book has lists of essential tools, it has pictures to demonstration difficult techniques, and it has all the basic recipes you need (like how to hard boil an egg) as well as more complex recipes too. What’s great about those books is that if you have an ingredient you don’t know what to do with, these books will sort you out. Have an eggplant? Just search eggplant in the index and you’ll have at least half a dozen recipe options. It’s truly a great resource.

I’ve adapted this recipe just slightly from the original. I’ve used less orange zest – but that flavor is still present just not overwhelming. I’ve added pecans for some crunch and for the illusion of health. Once, I also made this recipe with self-rising flour because I ran out of all-purpose. If you do this with self-rising flour just cut out the baking powder and do everything else the same.

Finally, if you have any ideas for more carrot recipes please let me know! I need them.

Messy level:  Three spoons, but just barely. Having to grate carrots and orange zest adds an extra tool which can be hard to clean. Also for me, I’m prone to flinging carrot peelings onto the floor.

Brown Sugar Carrot Bread

 

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Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons cold butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup almond milk
• zest of one orange
• 1 egg
• 1 cup grated carrots
• ½ cup roughly chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
2. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with butter.
3. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add the butter to the flour mixture. Use a fork, 2 knives, or your fingers to cut it into the dry ingredients. Keep doing this until there are no pieces bigger than a small pea.
5. In a medium bowl, beat together the milk, zest and egg.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until moist and there aren't big ribbons of flour. Don't mix until everything is smooth.
7. Gently fold in the pecans.
8. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour.
9. Let cool, then serve.

3.2.2925

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To figure out how much butter I need, I used my scale. I’ve wanted a digital scale for awhile and I finally bought myself one soon after I moved to London. It was on clearance at a nearby department store and I thought, “this is a sign, I’m finally going to get it.” And it’s been totally worth it! All my UK recipes are in grams and this helps measure them. It also helps me convert my US recipes more easily. For example, I know that 1 tbsp of butter equals about 14g but what the heck does that look like? Now I don’t have to eyeball it, I can measure it! It’s awesome. And yes, I know I’m a bit dorky for getting excited about measurements. 

Anyway, if you like banana bread and want something a little more subtle and less sweet this is the recipe for you! It’s yummy and easy.

Adapted from JamieOliver.com

Ingredients:

250g/2 cups self-rising flour, plus a little bit extra for dusting

3 ripe bananas

2 tbsp apple juice

125g/1 cup butter, softened (plus a little bit for greasing the pan)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

50g/ 1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

2. Lightly butter your loaf pan. Then dust the sides of the pan with flour. Tap out any excess flour.

3. In a small bowl, add the bananas and mash with a fork. Mash until it’s a mix of smooth and chunky.

4. Add the apple juice to the bananas and stir.

5. In a different bowl beat the butter until creamy. I recommend doing this with an electric mixer because it will be much easier! It will take 3-4 minutes in the electric mixer.

6. One at a time, add the eggs to the butter. Beat each one well before adding the next.

7. Add in the flour, cinnamon, honey, and banana. Mix until just combined.

8. If using, add the pecans and gently mix them in.

9. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Check if it’s done by sticking a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean the bread is done.

10. Allow the loaf to cool. Cut into slices then serve.

Messy level: This is a one spoon. Even with flour, which usually bumps up the messy for me, this is relatively low maintenance. It’s just dump and stir!

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And then I tried a roasted acorn squash stuffed with rice and lentils. It came out under cooked and under seasoned. That was probably a recipe that with a little tweaking I could get right, but I was still disappointed.

But one meal worth writing about was my lunch on Monday. I had off for Columbus day and my friends Ashley and Mala came over. We had a pretty fancy lunch despite some lazy hostessing on my part. And by lazy hostessing, I mean that 75% of the dining table was covered with a puzzle of Abraham Lincoln that I’m working on, and I also made them use paper plates. In spite of that, lunch actually turned out quite nice and now I wish I had taken more pictures.

We started out with a cheese plate. Ashley brought apple-cinnamon covered goat cheese. I had never had goat cheese coated in anything but herbs, so it was cool to try. We also had Gruyere and cheddar, which I served on my fancy cheese platter with the fancy cheese knives.

For our lunch we had a salad (that Ashley made), pici pasta, and homemade tomato sauce. Ashley’s salad was a great combination of sweet, from the fruits, and a sharp saltiness, from the blue cheese. The pear she used was a little soft, which was actually really nice because it soaked up the dressing. And the addition of pecans made for a nice crunch.

The recipes for the pici and tomato sauce I adapted from the Amateur Gourmet. We were all skeptical of how well the pasta would come out and we were delighted that it actually tasted like pasta. We did have some issues with shaping the pasta. The Amateur Gourmet said to shape the pasta, put it on a plate, and toss it with flour before putting the pasta into boiling water. We did that, but we must not have used enough flour because all the pasta stuck together and Mala and I ended up ripping the heap of dough apart and throwing in random sized pieces into the water. The three of us agreed it would have been easier to bring the water to a boil, then shape the pasta, then immediately throw it in the water so the shape would be less weird. Because of the random shaping, some of the fatter pieces were heavy and reminded me of gnocchi. But, if you roll thinner pieces it really tastes just like pasta. Though in the end, I think we were all impressed that we made homemade pasta for lunch.

The pasta sauce was my favorite part. I learned about it from the Amateur Gourmet, but the original author is Marcella Hazan. This recipe is SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS. I really don’t think I’m overselling it. There’s this pasta restaurant that Ryan and I love called Pasta Mia. The pasta there is so good that we always overeat because we want to soak up as much of the good flavor as possible. The first time I made this recipe I thought, “this smells like Pasta Mia.” But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to influence Ryan. Then he took a bite and said, “this is like Pasta Mia.” So if Pasta Mia means anything to you, then you’ll know this sauce is good. If Pasta Mia means nothing to you, sorry. You should still try it because it’s so simple and comforting and tasty.

Anyway, today’s post has three recipes and I hope you enjoy!

Ashley’s Salad–

Ingredients:

(Portion amounts based on your taste preferences)

arugula

sweet and spicy pecans

crumbled blue cheese

1 pear, sliced

dried cranberries

balsamic vinaigrette

Directions: 

1. Mix arugula, pecans, cheese, pear, and cranberries in a large bowl.

2. Dress with balsamic vinaigrette. Serve!

Tomato Sauce –

Ingredients:

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

5 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half.

Directions:

1. Empty the can of tomatoes into a pot. Use a knife and roughly cut up the tomatoes. Don’t get crazy with this, just cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters.

2. Add the butter and onion halves. Turn on the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.

3. Once it’s simmering, lower the heat. Let it simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and use your spoon to smash and crush the tomatoes.

4. After 45 minutes, discard the onion.

5. Serve.

Pici Pasta –

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 large egg, beaten (Mala beat the egg first, then we measured out half)

1 cup water, room temperature

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together flour and salt.

2. Add the water and egg. Knead until smooth. (Amateur Gourmet says about 5 minutes)

3. Flatten it and rub it with olive oil. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes.

4. While you’re waiting for the dough, bring  a large pot of water to boil.

5. Generously flour your work surface and hands. Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into desired pieces. (I cut the dough into chunks and then rolled out snakes).

6. Drop the pasta snakes into the boiling water.

7. Boil for 3-4 minutes.  You want the pasta to be cooked through but not raw.

8. Drain, top with sauce. Serve!

Messy level: The salad and tomato sauces are easy 1-2 spoon recipes. The pici though is a 4-spoon recipe. You have to stick you hands in and knead the dough and it get really sticky and caked into your finger nails. Also you have to flour your work surface and roll everything out. It takes a bit of work and makes quite a bit of mess. All this mess is the reason I was  a lazy hostess and opted for paper plates.

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