Tag: carrot

Black-eyed beans and carrot soup

Still eating through the stored carrots, not so many left now. I used some of the salt-free stock that I made earlier in the season with the less pretty carrots. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 125g black-eyed beans, soaked and drained (haricot beans are an alternative)
  • 850ml to 900ml low-salt vegetable stock
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 stick of celery, sliced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley
  • 1 bayleaf
  • A pinch of dried thyme
  • 25g flour
  • 25g butter
  • 300ml milk
  • salt and pepper
  • a grate of nutmeg

METHOD:

  • Put the beans in a large pan with the stock, and bring to a simmer and cook gently for 45 minutes
  • Add the onion, celery and carrots, as well as the herbs, and simmer with the lid on, until everything is tender. 
  • Remove the bayleaf, and blend the soup. You may need to add a little water if it is very thick. 
  • Heat the butter in a small pan, and when it is hot, add the flour and cook for 3 minutes, before adding to the soup pan. 
  • Blend in the salt, pepper, milk and nutmeg, adjusting the seasoning to taste.

This soup is not super-glamorous, but it tastes delicious. Serve with a garnish of chopped parsley, and with slices of brown buttered bread. It is a better colour made with haricot beans, but black-eyed beans are easier to find in the shops. 

Kale, lentil, carrot and sweet potato soup

This is very filling, we got six portions from this easily. It is more of a stew than a soup, really. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp chopped ginger
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 250g puy lentils or similar brown lentils
  • 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  • a bunch of Kale leaves, ribs removed and chopped
  • 1 litre vegetable stock, such as Marigold
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large pan, and fry the onion gently with the garlic, ginger, turmeric, chilli flakes and cinnamon, until soft. 
  • Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, and tomato puree, and stir. 
  • Add the stock and lentils and bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes with the pan covered, until the lentils are softening. 
  • Add the chopped kale, check and add water if required, and bring to a simmer again for 10 minutes. 
  • Check and season with salt and pepper.
 

Carrots with Marsala

I have some enormous carrots in the garden, and this was a delicious side-dish. It is great with lamb. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • about 500g carrots, peeled and chopped into large batons
  • 50g butter
  • salt and pepper
  • 150ml Marsala wine, (madeira or sherry might do instead)
  • Chopped parsley or a pinch of dried tarragon

METHOD:

  • Melt the butter in a saute pan, and when it is foaming, add the carrots. Mix well with the butter so that the flavour is taken up by the carrots. Season with salt and pepper. 
  • After a couple of minutes, add the Marsala, simmer for five minutes, and then add water so that the carrots are not quite covered. Bring back to a simmer, put the lid on the pan and cook the carrots until they are tender. 
  • Take of the lid, turn up the heat and reduce the liquid so that it becomes a syrupy sauce. 
  • Add the chopped parsley or tarragon, and serve. 

 

Sausage and Kidney stew

This is delicious, but I may update this; the original recipe had peas in it, and I am not sure about when to add the kidneys to the stew. But it is delicious enough that I caught Mr B fishing around in it with a serving spoon, scooping up some more. I served this with mashed potatoes and kale. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 sheep kidneys, skinned, quartered and the middle bits removed
  • 6 sausages (I used beef sausages, because they were reduced in the co-op) – cut into thirds
  • 125g bacon or pancetta, cut into strips
  • 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 200g carrots, cut into batons
  • 200g mushrooms, sliced quite thickly
  • 25g butter or 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 300ml stock
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 50ml sherry
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Set the oven to heat to 150C
  • Heat the oil in a casserole dish. When it is hot, add the bacon and cook until it is browning and the fat is running. 
  • Add the sausages and kidneys, and cook until just browning. Remove everything from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. 
  • Fry the onion, celery and mushrooms in the same pan over a medium heat, until softening. This will take around five minutes.
  • Add the flour, and stir it in, cooking all the while, for another minute
  • Add the stock, sherry and tomato puree, and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste
  • Add the sausages and kidney back to the pan, along with the carrots. Put the lid on the casserole dish and put it into the oven. Cook for half an hour. 

Shoulder of lamb with mint and cumin

I made this for a large weekend meal, and it was delicious. It takes a bit of prep the day before, and is a long time cooking. It is not a weeknight event. It was delicious and I would make it again. It helped that I had the main ingredients in the garden, or in the freezer. The recipe comes from Ottolenghi ‘Simple’. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lemon – grated rind and juice
  • 3 cloves of garlic for the marinade
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 15g mint leaves
  • 15g coriander leaves
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 boned shoulder of lamb weighing around 1kg
  • 1 celeriac (about 400g) cut into 2cm chunks
  • 3 carrots (about 300g) cut into 2cm chunks
  • 1 head of garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves. 
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Put the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, 2/4 tsp salt, black pepper spices and herbs in a small spice grinder or small blender, and blitz into a paste. 
  • Put the lamb into a large bowl and stab it at least 20 times. Rub in the spice mixture, wrap in a plastic bag or similar, and refrigerate overnight. 
  • Start cooking after lunch. Heat the oven to 170C. Put the marinaded lamb into a casserole dish, cover and put it in the oven for an hour. 
  • Reduce the temperature to 160C, add all of the vegetables including all of the unpeeled garlic cloves. Return to the oven. I found that I needed to add small amounts of water to keep everything moist during cooking, checking every hour or so. I cooked this way for four hours. 
  • Add another small splash of water, remove the lid and return to the oven for another hour. Prepare anything else you need, such as mashed potatoes, greens, etcetera. 

I had a boned shoulder of lamb, but you could use bone-in lamb, and keep the joint in the oven until the meat is falling off the bone. 

Carrot salad with mustard seeds

This is a very simple recipe, great as a quick side-dish to add freshness to any meal. It is great to add to a summer picnic, a cold buffet, or with a range of Indian dishes. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Approx 350g carrots
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbs rapeseed oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

METHOD:

  • Peel and grate the carrots, and put them in a salad bowl, sprinkle in the salt and toss to ensure it is evenly distributed.
  • Heat the oil in a small pan, and when it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Cook the mustard seeds until they begin to pop. 
  • Pour the hot oil and seeds over the carrots, and mix well. 

Celeriac, carrot and coriander soup

On consultation with the household, I was asked to make something new with the enormous celeriac that I had bought. I found a recipe in ‘The quick after-work vegetarian cookbook’ but then I tweaked it to make it more to my taste. The coriander definitely lifts the flavour. If you want to make a vegan version, you can leave out the sour cream, or substitute coconut yoghurt. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 350g celeriac (about half of a large celeriac) peeled and chopped
  • 350g carrots, peeled and chopped
  • around 800ml stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 200 – 300ml sour cream

METHOD:

  • Fry the chopped onion in the olive oil over a low heat. 
  • When the onion is soft, add the coriander, celeriac and carrots, stir and cook gently for another 3 to 4 minutes. 
  • Add the stock and bring to a simmer, and cook for around 20 minutes. 
  • Blitz the soup with a soup blender, and add the sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. 

I’m sure there are more tweaks to be had, but this was a nice balance between easy, fast and tasty. 

Harissa, chicken, potatoes, carrots and beans

I’m struggling to keep up with garden produce, so I adapted this recipe that I found on-line, and experimented with different combinations. I’m sure you could swap around the vegetables to include what is in season, such as celeriac, bulb fennel, etcetera, anything that does well as a roast vegetable. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g jointed chicken
  • 300g potatoes, peeled and in small chunks
  • 300g carrots, peeled and in batons (whole if baby carrots)
  • 1 tbsp harissa (I used rose harissa)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 100ml dry white wine
  • 200g string beans, top and tail, cut in half (or an alternate vegetable, depending on availability and taste)
  • salt and pepper
  • roughly chopped mint and/or parsley
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest

METHOD:

  • Heat the oven to 200C
  • Coat the chicken in the harissa, and put this in a roasting dish with the potatoes, carrots, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and add the white wine. 
  • Roast the chicken mixture for 30 minutes. Add the beans, and cook for another 20 minutes
  • Mix in the lemon zest and garnish with the roughly chopped herbs. 

 

Scallops with spring onion, ginger, and carrots

This is a West Indian recipe, adapted from ‘Original Flava‘  to suit my taste and the ingredients in the garden. It is very easy, and can be cooked on a barbeque, but it is terribly midgy just now, so we skipped that bit. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g scallops, cut into quarters
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 5 large spring onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp scotch bonnet paste (very spicy, use less if you wish)
  • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 250g carrots, grated
  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil

METHOD:

  • Put all of the ingredients into a container with a lid, and put the container in the fridge for at least four hours
  • Take a roll of tin foil, and tear off two pieces large enough to make a parcel with half of the mixture each. Spread the mixture onto the tin foil, and fold it over, crimping the edges to make the parcels air tight. Put the parcels onto a baking sheet.
  • Heat the oven to 180C, and put the parcels into the oven, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the contents are hot. 
  • Serve with wedges of lime or lemon. 

I’m sure you could use other vegetables as well, such as celeriac, or bulb fennel. 

 

Spicy carrot and red lentil soup

This soup is quite hot and spicy, but you can cut down on the chilli if you wish. The main flavours come from the use of Tunisian Tabil spice mix and from cumin seed. I got the spices from Seasoned Pioneers. There are a few variations that could be used. It could be vegan, you could add a seaweed stock instead of vegetable stock. If you stir in yoghurt, then it is still vegetarian, but not vegan. It is also good with a chicken stock. It also uses a lot of carrots, which is just as well, because I have grown very many. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 600g carrots, grated
  • 150g red lentils
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • a large thumb-sized nodule of ginger, chopped
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp tabil spice blend
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 2 -3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock
  • 1/2 tsp salt

METHOD:

  • Use a large saucepan. Heat the olive oil and cook the onions over a low to medium heat, stirring, until the onions start to turn translucent, around five minutes. 
  • Add the ginger, garlic and spices, stir together and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. 
  • Add the carrots and lentils, mix in well, and then add a litre of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around seven minutes
  • Use a soup wand or blender to blitz the soup until it is smooth. 

We served this with bread and yoghurt.