Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto

Recently, we got a bunch of Nantes Rainbow carrots in our CSA box. This particular bunch included a gorgeous set of carrot greens on top. More often than not, when you buy carrots in the grocery store, the green tops have already been removed. That's too bad because you can use those greens. They are not, as you might think, bitter, harsh, or grassy but they are mild and have a unique flavor--and they really are edible.

These particular carrot tops were such a lush, verdant green that we looked up how they could be used and I found this recipe and used it as a starting point.

So don't just compost those carrot greens. Use them raw mixed into salads. Or make the pesto recipe and below and once frozen, I have added a cube to soup stock and weekend breakfast eggs.

Carrot Top Pesto

Make pesto up to one day ahead. Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays and store in the freezer for other uses.

• Garlic, 2-3 cloves, minced
• Pine nuts, 3 tablespoons (macadamia nuts can be substituted)
• Basil leaves, 1/2 cup packed (about 12-20 leaves depending on size)
• Carrot tops, leaves removed from stems, cleaned
• Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup
• Olive oil, 1/2 cup or more to desired consistency
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Mince garlic into food processor
• Add nuts, basil, carrot tops, cheese, and basil and pulse until coarsely chopped
• Slowly add olive oil and process to desired consistency
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Continue to process to taste

Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto

• Carrots, 1 large bunch (with greens)
• Carrot top pesto (see above)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Clean and peel carrots (cut thicker carrots into halves)
• Toss with olive oil on a baking sheet (parchment paper optional)
• Coat with salt and pepper
• Roast, turning occasionally, until carrots have some browning (25 - 35 minutes)
• Remove from oven and let cool slightly
• Mix roasted carrots and some pesto (to desired coating) and serve
• Optional: add some finishing salt before serving

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

We had an abundance of sweet potatoes in the pantry. They are definitely one food item I need to figure out how to utilize efficiently. Too often, I end up tossing a moldy bag into the compost bin. I know I could easily roast them or dice them up and add them to a risotto. Lots of people just bake them the same way as a russet potato. I had, at one time, been working to find a good oven-baked sweet potato fries recipe but I have yet to perfect that recipe. Too often, sweet potato recipes often include ingredients like maple syrup or tiny marshmallows which are two things we don't care for much. Thus began my search for an acceptable way to use up the latest batch of sweet potatoes from our CSA box.

Since we had so many sweet potatoes, I decided to explore a soup figuring that I could put it into smaller containers and stick them in the freezer awaiting a nice, easy weeknight dinner. After searching for a bit, I finally settled on this soup from Vegetarian Times. Their title doesn't contain carrots but we thought the flavor of the carrots was present enough that they deserved being on the bill. Their version was also a bisque that contained heavy cream. I read that heavy cream doesn't freeze well (it's possible but it just takes more work than I wanted to put in). So I did an adaptation of the recipe (leaving out the heavy cream) knowing that the soup was destined for the freezer. I made a note on the containers about possibly adding cream after reheating but when we pulled out the first batch out of the freezer a few weeks later I opted not to add the cream and the soup was quite tasty without it.

Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• Sweet potatoes - 1 lb. peeled and cut into small chunks
• Carrots - 3 medium sized, peeled and diced
• Shiitake mushrooms - 5 oz. cleaned and diced
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves minced
• Yellow onion - 1 large, peeled and chopped
• Unsalted butter - 6 tbsp.
• Tomato puree - 1 cup
• White wine - 3/4 cup
• Vegetable stock - 4 cups
• Scallions - 6 trimmed and finely minced
• White pepper - 1/4 tsp.
• Cayenne pepper - 1/4 tsp.
• Salt and black pepper - to taste

Preparation:

• Prep the potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic
• Heat 4 tbsp. butter in a large saucepan over medium heat
• Add onions and carrots and slowly stir until onions are translucent
• Add minced garlic and let it cook until it releases its fragrance
• Add broth, wine, sweet potatoes, seasonings, and tomato puree and slowly bring to a boil
• Reduce heat, cover, and cook on low for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Let cool slightly and use an immersion blender to puree the soup

At this point, I took it off the heat and let it cool until I could ladle it into freezer containers. Now, come the day you take it out of the freezer and once you have it defrosted and are beginning to reheat it, you could elect to add 1/4 cup of heavy cream to make it into a bisque. But I decided to forego the extra calories. However, the garnish is worth making as it adds a nice earthy flavor contrast to the sweetness of the potato and carrot.

Topping Preparation:

• Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium heat
• Add diced Shiitake mushrooms and stir to cook until they begin to soften
• Add chopped scallions and cook until everything is tender 
• Remove from heat and spoon onto the center of the soup just before serving.

Serve soup with some crunchy bread and olive oil.

Gingered Carrot Soup

A good friend made this recipe for a recent dinner. It was tasty, complex, and interesting. Normally, you might think of carrot soup as somewhat sweet but the ginger and mint add a whole new layer. A good recipe as we move into the cooler, winter months.

Gingered Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 medium leek, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger 
• 1 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1 1/2 lb. carrots 
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• Zest from 1 orange
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste
• ground black or white pepper to taste

Preparation:

Slice leek, grate ginger, finely chop mint leaves, peel carrots and cut into 3/4 inch lengths (if using large carrot you can also cut them in half lengthwise).

Cooking:

In a soup pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the leek and gingers and saute until the leeks are tender but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and saute until coated with butter. Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the carrots are very tender, about 30-35 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth (The soup can be made up to this point the day before and refrigerated. Add the orange juice and prep the mint the next day).

Juice the oranges and add juice to pot. Heat the soup gently and adjust seasonings, adding sugar, salt and pepper as needed. White pepper does well with this dish.

Serving:

Soup can be served cold or reheated. If reheating, do not boil.  

Garnish with mint leaves, citrus slices, or orange zest.

Recommended wine:

Riesling

Alice's Carrots

One of the staple items we get in the box is carrots. Bunches of Nantes carrots to be exact. Normally, I would peel and chop one or two raw carrots to add to a salad. Despite our best efforts, there were some weeks when we did not fully utilize the carrots.

While talking to some friends who also get the same CSA box, they said their "go to" recipe for carrots is the glazed carrots recipe (page 298) from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. Since hearing about this, I've made this a handful of times and it's a keeper.

As Alice says, "it's more of a technique than a recipe."

It's deceptively simple and it makes an easy side dish.

It goes like this:

• Peel the carrots (however many you need to feed). If the carrots are fairly thick, you can halve them.
• Put the carrots in a pan and add water to come up about halfway up the carrots. Use a pan big enough to allow you to keep all of the carrots in a single layer.
• Add a good pinch of salt and a pat of butter.
• A few cracks of fresh pepper is always good.
• Bring to a boil then turn down the heat to a simmer.
• Cover the pan and simmer until water evaporates.
• As the water level gets low, shake the pan to distribute the buttery glaze over the carrots.
• I like to let the butter brown the carrots a bit in the pan.
• Prior to serving, you can add some chopped herbs. Parsley, chives, and basil would work.

Weeknight White Bean, Sausage, and Kale Soup

The CSA box arrives very early on Friday mornings and I usually go out and retrieve it as a part of my morning routine. This last Friday, I brought the box in and took a quick look at the contents before heading off to work. I noticed the Lacinato kale sitting on top and for some reason my mind went right to soup. Now, that's because Lacinato kale has a thicker leaf and it needs more time than other greens to break down. Letting it simmer in a soup is an excellent way to soften the kale leaves.

We were introduced to Lacinato kale through the box. At first, I was not a big fan. But over the years I've learned that to appreciate it and have adjusted my cooking methods to deal with the thick leaves that resemble dinosaur skin giving it the nickname "Dino" kale. The best ways to prepare Lacinto kale:

• Blanch the leaves in hot, salted water prior to preparation
• Let the simmer in broth for a soup for awhile
• Use an acid, like lemon juice, to break down the membranes. 

So on the way home from work, I stopped off at my local Trader Joe's and picked up veggie broth, a can of white beans, their "sausage-less" Italian sausage, and some good bread.

When I got home I unpacked the box and found that one of the suggested recipes was very much what I was planning. But my version was going to be the weeknight version.

While the broth was heating up, I stemmed the kale, cut it up into smaller strips, and added it to the stock. I added into the broth a bay leaf, a clove of minced garlic, a generous amount of black pepper, and a shake of red pepper flakes. Then I put in a few shakes of same various herbs.

The TJ's sausage is not the most appealing at first glance. But I sliced it up and browned it nicely in a small skillet. I wanted a crispy outside to stand up in the soup.

I added in some sliced carrots that were also in the box and the drained beans.

All of the remaining ingredient were added to the soup and I let it heat up. A green salad (lettuce, radishes, and avocado from the box) and bread were prepared to accompany the soup which went over well after a hectic week of work.

Here's my iPhone shot of the leftover soup that became my lunch on Saturday.

Slow Cooker: Tuscan Bean Stew

I picked up a slow cooker for an incredibly low price recently. It seems they are the media favorite right now. Everywhere you look, (from the supermarket check-out magazines, to emails from Sunset, to the latest cookbooks) someone is touting the virtues of the slow cooker. And then my friends and colleagues were all glowing when I asked them about their slow cooker experiences.

Well, I'm still early in on my journey but so far I've been pretty underwhelmed by the vegetarian slow cooker recipes I've seen and tried. They seem fairly bland and unimaginative. It seems that someone found the recipe book from the 1970s and put those recipes online. Haven't we learned some things since then?

Of course, I realize that I've added the extra challenge of trying fit the slow cooker into a vegetarian/pescetarian household. So I always have to be thinking about the substitute for the meat in recipes.

But I shall continue on my slow cooker journey and report out the worthy ones here. I have a few recipes on deck to try out in the near future. I've added a "slow cooker" label over to the right. too.This slow cooker recipe was actually pretty good. Definitely a great starting point. I might add some additional seasonings next time to make it bolder.

I was also drawn to how this recipe used unusual beans which I have been wanting to explore. The recipe calls for Borlotti beans which I made here for the first time. I was surprised to find them at my local Whole Foods. If you are looking for a good mail order store for rare or heirloom beans then be sure to check out Rancho Gordo.

This recipe was adapted from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle and instead of chicken I used Soyrizo. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Tuscan Bean Stew

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Parmesan rind
• 1 14 oz. bag dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in water
• 1 14 oz. bag dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight in water
• 5 cups of veggie broth
• About 10-12 crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Soyrizo, squeeze it out of the casing
• 1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Place the onion, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, rosemary, oregano, bay leaf, Parmesan rind, beans, and broth into the pot of a slow cooker. Turn the cooker on low for 6 hours
• Remove bay leaf, rosemary sprig, and Parmesan rind. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 more hour
• Add the Soyrizo and cook another hour
• Season with salt and pepper to taste

Curried Butternut Squash and Carrot Bisque

The beauty of butternut squash is that it will last a long time. I simply store it in the pantry away from light and where it's fairly cool. I had a number of squash tucked away in the pantry from a number of months ago (more months than I want to admit!).

Last week's box brought some absolutely gorgeous carrots. The greens were incredible. So incredibly green and vibrant that I got online and researched whether they were edible. Turns out they are but it was more than I wanted to explore at the moment. If you want to find out more, click here.

So I decided to make a soup that I had made once before from Bon Appetit magazine. I figured I would stick it in the freezer for when it gets colder (even though it's almost been "soup weather" here in August!). The soup is an interesting contrast. The apple and honey give it a bit of sweetness while the Thai curry seasoning gives it a bit of a kick that warms you up when it's cold outside.

While making this soup I decided that it was high time to replace my hand immersion blender. A few years back I got a Breville from one of those high-end home magazines. It was cordless which I thought would be a plus. From the start it was annoying. There was a safety button that you had to press down for 1 second before you had to press down (with another finger) the start button. After a few months it also stopped working continuously. Every five seconds it would die and you had to start all over. I had my eye on this one from Amazon and then I saw it for a better price during a sale at my local Macy's. I have not yet put the new one through the paces but the initial tinkering told me that there was a lot more power. I will gladly give up the cordless features for power and reliability.

Curried Butternut Squash and Carrot Bisque

• 2 medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• Olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 apple, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 32 oz. broth
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. (spicy) to 1 tsp. (very spicy) Thai Red Curry paste
• 2 tsp. honey

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Brush cut side of squash with olive oil and place on a baking dish
• Roast squash until tender, about 1 hour, and let cool
• Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat
• Add onions and saute for 1-2 minutes
  
• Add carrots and apple and saute for five minutes
• Add Thai curry paste and stir until the paste is mixed in well with other ingredients
• Add broth, bay leaves, and squash to the pot and bring to a boil
• Reduce heat to medium low simmer for 1 hour uncovered stirring regularly
  
• Discard bay leaves
• Puree soup in a blender or use an immersion mixer
• Stir in half and half and honey
• Season with salt and pepper as needed
  

Source: Bon Appetit http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2007/02/curried_butternut_squash_bisque

Roasted Carrots

It seemed that Nantes carrots were arriving every week. We try to add some diced or sliced carrots to the salad each evening (along with the yummy radishes!) but sometimes we feel like there are more carrots than we can use.

Such are the times to remember the beauty of roasted vegetables. This week's carrots got roasted as a side instead of raw in the salad. This was the second batch of roasted carrots. Last week's carrots got peeled but were left whole. This week's carrots were just cleaned and cut into 1 inch slices. Both were good. Roasting vegetables is so simple yet it brings out so many complex flavors. Carrots, asparagus, parsnips, potatoes, onions are all excellent candidates. Alice Waters, as usual, provides the best guidance:

Cook the vegetables in a hot oven preheated to 400 degrees. A lower temperature will dry out the vegetables while they cook, making them leathery before they are done; a higher temperature will burn them before they are cooked all the way through. Stir the vegetables a few times while they are cooking, turning those along the edges into the center. Cook them until they are tender and nicely browned here and there. Don't let them get too far: a little browning makes them sweeter, but if you let them get too dark they will taste bitter.

When the vegetables are done you can also add some fresh herbs. With carrots, thyme is a good choice.