Moroccan Pickled Carrots

Moroccan Pickled Carrots

Rainbow carrots from Trader Joes

This summer is the first time I’ve experienced pickling anything.  I’ve already written about pickled red onions in my June 13th post.  After reading that, one of the patrons at the library thought I might like her recipe for Pickled Moroccan Carrots.  And I do!

I used colored carrots for interest and did not peel mine since they were organic. I did not have white balsamic vinegar, so I used a combination of regular balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar.  These carrots are a bit spicy!

Moroccan Pickled Carrots

Tightly pack into one quart jar:

1 lb carrots, peeled and thinly sliced thinly into sticks
1 lemon, sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

In saucepan over medium heat, lightly toast:

1-1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1-1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Then add:

2 tsp crushed pepper flakes
3 Tbsp sugar
1 c water
1 c white balsamic vinegar
1-1/8 tsp cinnamon

Bring to a boil.  Then slowly and carefully pour into jars.  Fill to 1/4-inch head space.  Seal and refrigerate.  Carrots are ready to eat in 3 – 5 days.  Keep up to one month in refrigerator.

 

My Favorite Carrot Cake

A slice of my favorite carrot cake

I think carrot cake makes a perfect dessert for the Easter holiday.  So today I will share my favorite carrot cake recipe, which I got from D’Amico’s Cafe in Seattle many years ago.  I’ve never found a better recipe for this cake.  I usually make half a recipe and bake it in a round cake pan.

Carrot Cake
from D’Amico’s Cafe

1-1/2 c sugar
1-1/2 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
grated orange peel from one large orange
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 c grated carrots
3/4 c crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Beat sugar, oil and eggs until well blended.  Add flour, baking soda, vanilla, orange peel, spices and pineapple.  Stir in carrots, raisins and walnuts.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until done.  Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Carrots for carrot cake

Grated orange peel

Soup Worthy of a Poem

Sliced scallions for soup

 

This Winter Day
by Maya Angelou

The kitchen is its readiness
white green and orange things
leak their blood selves in the soup.

Ritual sacrifice that snaps
an odor at my nose and starts
my tongue to march
slipping in the liquid of its drip.

The day, silver striped
in rain, is balked against
my window and the soup.

Rain in rivulets on kitchen window

Sometimes I start with a poem or quote, other times with a photo, and sometimes with an idea.  For today’s post, I wanted to share Maya Angelou’s poem.  And then I had to find a soup recipe worthy of the images in the poem.  I think I found it with Coconut Red Lentil Soup, which I discovered at http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-red-lentil-soup-recipe.html.  This is a wonderful winter soup.  I’ve copied the recipe below for your convenience.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

1 cup / 7 oz / 200 g yellow split peas
1 cup 7 oz / 200 g red split lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups / 1.6 liters water
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced
1/3 cup / 1.5 oz /  45 g golden raisins
1/3 / 80 ml cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse – until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don’t want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency.

Red split lentils and yellow split peas

White, green and orange vegetables for the soup

Scallions

Toasting the curry spice

Sriracha Calling Me

Bottle of Sriracha chili sauce found in my refrigerator

Sriracha chili sauce has been on my radar lately.  First, I caught the tail end of a Splendid Table broadcast which featured an interview with Randy Clemens, author of The Sriracha Cookbook  (you can link to the broadcast here:  http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/110219/).  It just so happens that we have not one, but two, half-used bottles of Sriracha in our refrigerator.  Since I’ve never used it, it’s clear my husband had a hand in bringing them home. 

Then, in Sunday’s Parade magazine, I saw a recipe for Asian Slaw, which used Sriracha sauce. (I will provide the recipe below, but you can also link to the recipe here: http://www.dashrecipes.com/recipes/dr/asian-slaw.html.)  I love coleslaw, and this recipe looked interesting, so I gathered together the ingredients to make it.

Ingredients for Asian Slaw

Asian Slaw
by Dorie Greenspan, from Parade Magazine, February 20, 2011

Ingredients:
4 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1 small onion, finely chopped
Pinch of salt and pepper
1½ Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1⁄3 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1¼ tsp Asian sesame oil
½ tsp sriracha
¼ tsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame seeds or chopped peanuts (optional)

 Directions:
1. Toss cabbage, carrots, onion, and salt in a bowl. Season with pepper.
2. Whisk together vinegar, mayonnaise, sesame oil, sriracha, and sugar until smooth. Taste; add pinch of salt if needed.
3. Pour dressing over shredded vegetables and toss to combine. Serve slaw immediately or chill for a few hours, tossing again before serving. Finish with a shower of sesame seeds or some chopped peanuts, if desired.  (I used sunflower seeds.)

I just love this recipe!  And part of the fun of making it is slicing and dicing vegetables.  They look so pretty.

Slicing cabbage

Slicing onions

Slicing carrots

Asian Slaw, ready to eat

Now I’m interested in finding other ways to use our Sriracha sauce, so I’ve put my name on the library’s reserve list for Clemens’ new cookbook.

The Sriracha Cookbook

Saturday Farmers’ Market

Seattle’s University District Farmers’ Market runs Saturdays year-round.  Here is what the market is like on a winter Saturday in February.  I saw pattern and color everywhere.

“Elegance is natural when you follow the principle of repetition.”
     —  Susan Vreeland, Clara and Mr. Tiffany

Unusual mushrooms for sale

Jams colored like stained-glass windows

Handmade soaps

Carrots and cabbages

Rustic-looking beets

Root vegetables

Early spring daffodils and tulips

Five-Star Cole Slaw

Adrienne's cole slaw

Adrienne, the proprietor of the Whiteley Creek Homestead B & B, has done it again.  She’s come up with a tasty and nutritious recipe for cole slaw, which will now replace all my other recipes for this side dish.  She found the recipe at allrecipes.com and gave it her own special tweaks.  You can find her recipe at http://www.whiteleycreek.com/queen_of_the_meadow_bloom/2010/05/coleslaw-restaurantstyle.html, but I’ll copy it here for your convenience:

Restaurant-Style Coleslaw
Makes 8 servings

• 1/4 c sugar (I omitted this entirely)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 c milk
• 1/2 c mayonnaise (Adrienne uses  Follow Your Heart Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise)
• 1/4 c buttermilk
• 1-1/2 Tbsp vinegar (Adrienne uses Bragg Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar)
• 2-1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 8 c finely chopped cabbage
• 1/4 c grated carrots
• 1 apple, 1/2 c raisins, 1/2 c raw sunflower seeds (Adrienne’s additions)

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, and lemon juice until smooth.  Add cabbage and carrots and mix until blended with the dressing.  Refrigerate at least two hours before serving (if you can wait that long).

Playing Tourist in Seattle: Pike Place Market

Seattle’s Pike Place Market is open year-round, but it is an especially vibrant place on a clear, sunny day in February.  I was pleased to see buckets filled with colorful tulips. . . the promise of spring in a pail.

First tulips, Pike Place Market

A rainbow of colorful tulips at the flower stalls

Tulips, Pike Place Market

Vendor prepares a tulip bouquet

More splashes of color: carrots

Honey pots, like a mosaic of stained glass, glow in the Seattle sunshine

Young shopper at the Pike Place Market

Carrot Revolutions

North African Spiced Carrots

“The day is coming when a single carrot freshly observed will set off a revolution.”
     — Paul Cezanne

I’m always looking for new ways to prepare vegetables so that I can enjoy eating more of them in my diet.  Here’s an innovative way to spice up ordinary carrots.

North African Spiced Carrots
from The EatingWell Diabetes Cookbook by Joyce Hendley and the Editors of EatingWell

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 c sliced carrots (4 medium-large)
1 c water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, paprika, cumin and coriander; cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 20 seconds.  Add carrots, water, lemon juice and salt; bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until almost tender, 5 to 7 minutes.  Uncover and simmer, stirring often, until the carrots are just tender and the liquid is syrupy, 2 to 4 minutes.  Stir in parsley.  Serve hot or at room temperature.