Three things to do with carrots

The humble carrot: healthy, delicious, cheap, and underrated.  While salads and carrot sticks are obvious choices, there are so many things that you can do with this vegetable!  Here are three suggestions....

1) Roasted

Carrots are sweet, which means that they roast beautifully.  It's also ridiculously easy: once the carrots are in the oven all you need to do is set a timer and take them out when it dings...no need to slave over the stove checking for done-ness.

The method is basic.  First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut up the carrots into bite sized pieces (as a general rule, the larger they are, the longer they will take to cook).  Toss them with a little oil (I prefer canola or vegetable oil for this since olive oil tends to smoke in the oven at high temperatures), add salt and pepper to taste, as well as whatever other spices/flavours you desire.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes (longer if necessary).

Using a mix of coloured carrots is not only delicious, it's also beautiful!

2) Soup

I love vegetable soups: they are creamy and delicious...and ridiculously good for you since they amount to little more than veggie puree thinned out with a little chicken stock.  Also, really easy to make.  For this particular curried carrot soup you will need the following:

-2 tbsp olive oil
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 1/2 pounds of carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces (if you can't be bothered peeling/chopping, just buy a bag of baby carrots from the store!)
-6 cups chicken stock
-1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
-1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper (more=spicier)
-salt and pepper (to taste)
-sour cream (for serving)

Preheat a large pot over medium heat.  Add olive oil, onion, and carrots; saute 5 minutes.  Add 4 cups of chicken stock, curry powder, cayenne, and about 1 tsp of salt.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the carrots are very tender (15 minutes or so).  Remove from heat, and use a hand blender to blend until smooth (or, you can blend small batches in a normal blender.  Be careful though...hot liquids in a blender tend to splash!).  Return to heat; if the soup is too thick add more chicken stock (until you reach the desired consistency).  Add salt and pepper to taste; serve with sour cream.

You can make these fancy hearts by putting down small dollops of sour cream and then dragging a toothpick through them in a circle.

3) Bake

Muffins are a great place to put vegetables, especially since grated veggies take the place of oil or milk.  These muffins are extra special since they also contain crushed pineapple...and they freeze really well!

-1 1/2 cups flour
-3/4 cup packed brown sugar
-3/4 cup natural bran

(If you don't like bran in your muffins you can just use 2 cups of flour and omit the bran.  Another option is to use 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat!)

-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Make a well in the centre, and set aside.

-2 eggs
-1 cup grated carrot
-1 can (398 mL) crushed pineapple with juice
-1 tbsp cooking oil

In a small bowl beat eggs lightly.  Add carrot, pineapple, and oil; mix well.  Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  Stir to moisten.

(At this point you can, if you choose, add 1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries.)

Fill greased muffin cups with batter.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.

As always...enjoy!!

Keeping it simple.

I'm not one to get scared off by a complicated recipe, but the last thing I want to do when I've been running around madly all day is attempt some process that requires 16 steps and random ingredients that I have to dig out from the back of my cupboard.

As luck would have it though, the best way to cook a piece of white fish happens to be the simplest.

Pan-fried white fish is something that brings back lots of memories for me...memories of going fishing with my dad, and bringing home whatever we could catch for my mom to fry up in a pan.  All you need are four ingredients:

-1 cup of flour
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 tbsp of whatever combination of herbs and spices that you desire (though you don't really have to add anything more than salt and pepper if you don't want to)
-2 tbsp butter

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and spices (if you're using any).  Dredge the fish (that is, cover it in the flour mixture), then fry in melted butter until golden brown and crispy.

Simple right?  And delicious too.  Just ask Michael Smith...

The best thing about this particular method of cooking is that it's easy to add different flavours and change things up: all you need to do is vary which herbs and spices you add to the flour.  I was eating curried lentils with my fish this week, so I decided to add a couple of tablespoons of garam masala to my flour mixture....the result was pure deliciousness.

The second best thing is that the fish is done is fewer than 10 minutes!  These lentils took longer.......

No kneading necessary.

I've always wanted to try making my own bread, but have never gotten around to it simply on account of the fact that making bread involves an inordinate amount of effort.  All that kneading and waiting and kneading and waiting again.......

So you can imagine that I was quite happy when I came across a recipe for no-knead bread.  I was even happier when I realized that this particular loaf had to rise for at least 8 hours...meaning that I could put the dough together the night before and then finish in the morning for fresh baked cinnamon raisin goodness...

You will need...

-1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp active dry yeast (not quick rising)

-1 1/4 cups cold water (using cold water ensures that the dough will rise slowly)

-2 tbsp honey

-2 tsp cinnamon

-2 tbsp brown sugar

-1/2 cup raisins

-1/2 cup chopped almonds (or whatever other nut you fancy)

Step 1: mix the dough.  Whisk together the flours, salt, yeast, cinnamon, brown sugar, raisin, and nuts.  Using a wooden spoon, mix the water and honey into the dry ingredients and stir just until the dough comes together.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a loose fitting lid and allow to rise at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours.

Because there's more water than usual the dough should come together fairly easily...

Step 2: After the dough has risen, dust more flour over the surface to prevent it from sticking to your hands as you shape the loaf.  Gently pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl and then lift it out...be careful, you want to work it as little as possible to maintain the air bubbles formed by the yeast.  Quickly stretch and tick the dough under itself, turning it as you work, to form a right ball.

The top will be smooth, the bottom will be a collection of loose ends.

Step 3: Put the shaped loaf into a greased and floured dutch oven.  Cover and allow to rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.  After it has rested, cut a small cross into the top.

Step 4: Put the dutch over in the centre of a cold (not preheated) oven and set the temperature to 425 degrees F; bake for 40 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake for 10 to 20 minutes more, until the loaf is nice and brown.  Carefully remove from the Dutch oven; allow to cool before slicing.

Best to let it cool completely...if you can resist.

I could not resist slicing it open shortly after it came out the oven...but this was my breakfast after all.  It was perfect...deeply flavoured, and pleasantly chewy (on account of all the whole wheat flour).  Delicious, and filling!