sel et sucre

Tag: carrot

  • Thai Basil Stir Fry

    thai basil stir fry

    Can I tell you what I am most excited about in my garden this year? Thai basil. A sweet basil cultivar used not only in Thai cooking, but also in Vietnamese, Laotian, and Taiwanese cuisine, this variety has dark purple stems and a distinctive anise flavor. Here’s the very first dish I cooked using fresh Thai basil from my garden. A simple vegetable stir fry with zucchini, carrot, and mushrooms, finished off with a fistful of Thai basil leaves and a simple Thai sauce. Garlic, shallots, and bird’s eye chiles (which are quite spicy, by the way, so cut back if you don’t have a very high spice tolerance) help to round out the flavors in this addictive stir fry. This could easily be adapted to whatever vegetables you like, but don’t even think about leaving out or substituting the Thai basil. It can usually be found in large bunches at Asian markets (which is also your best bet for fish sauce and bird’s eye chiles). Once you try this stir fry, don’t be surprised if you find yourself seeking out Thai basil whenever possible and wishing for your very own plant.

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  • Japanese Curry

    japanese curry

    Japanese curry is an interesting phenomenon – traditional Indian curries twisted their way through the British to Japan and beget this now widely popular dish. Usually served over rice (or sometimes noodles) and often called “curry rice” as a result, Japanese curry adds extra sweetness over its predecessors (from a grated apple in this recipe – sometimes raisins are also added) and is thickened with a flavorful roux. I can’t help but love every incarnation of curry, from Thai to Indian to British, and Japanese curry is no exception. Usually made with humble potatoes, carrots, and peas, I like to switch out the potatoes for cauliflower and add in mushrooms and chickpeas, resulting in a variety of flavors and textures, as well as quite a lot of food.

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  • Carrot Cake Muffins Baked in Eggshells

    carrot cake muffins baked in eggshells

    Usually I’m all about taste, but every once in a while, I decide to cook something mostly for the visual impact. These muffins baked inside of eggshells were perfect for a spring brunch (where I also served scrambled eggs from the emptied out eggs – waste not, want not). You can use this technique with your favorite muffin or cupcake batter, but I decided that carrot cake muffins (a less sweet and more breakfast friendly take on classic carrot cake) with a “yolk” made from a cream cheese filling seemed like a great fit. I was pretty pleased with how these turned out, but I’d definitely do some things differently next time. The batter stuck to the eggshells which I hadn’t quite anticipated, so I think swirling a drop of oil inside them before filling would be useful. I filled my eggs using a plastic bag with the corner cut off, but I think a professional pastry tip would make this a lot easier and quicker. I also overfilled the shells, and while it’s easy enough to scrape off the overflowing muffin after they’re baked, this meant that my “yolks” didn’t end up as pretty little balls in the center of the egg as hoped, so stick to filling the eggs a little less than 2/3rds full. Learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to make them! Even with these small issues (and the hours spent emptying eggshells and piping batter in them), everyone at brunch was very impressed, and it was really fun to crack away the shell and reveal a muffin!

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  • Tuscan Three Bean Soup

    tuscan three bean soup

    One of the greatest lessons I’ve ever learned about cooking is to be adaptable. Being able to read a recipe and then adjust it to the ingredients you have on hand and to your taste preferences will help you enjoy cooking more and yield some amazingly delicious results in the kitchen (even if there are a few disasters now and again). Take this soup, for instance. When I set out to cook it, it was intended as a chickpea soup. While I’m normally quite good about gathering all my ingredients before starting to cook (another valuable lesson), I somehow didn’t realize until halfway through cooking this that I didn’t have enough chickpeas. No matter, though, I quickly grabbed a few different cans and changed this to a three bean soup. That kale about to go bad in the fridge? Might as well toss that in too! The end result was hearty, tasty, and, dare I say, probably even better than what I’d have made if I’d had enough chickpeas in the first place!

    Although the ingredient list looks long, they’re mostly basic ingredients that you probably have around (or am I the only one who has a cupboard filled with cans and cans of different varieties of beans?). And if you happen to have a different set of beans in your cupboard, feel free to adapt and use whichever beans you like best (although if you’re looking at a whole lot of black beans, I think you’ll be better off with my chipotle black bean soup). The flavoring in this soup is fairly traditional: mirepoix (onion, carrots, and celery), garlic, thyme, rosemary, and balsamic vinegar to finish it off. You’re going to want a really large pot to hold all of this soup. Great if you’re trying to feed a hungry family (with all the beans in there plus the kale, it’s sure to fill everyone up) or just want to have enough leftovers for a week or two.

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  • Lentil Sloppy Joes

    lentil sloppy joes

    I’ve long been a messy eater. When out at a nice restaurant or eating with someone I’m trying to impress, I do my best to keep myself neat. But usually I manage to make a complete fool of myself by staining my white shirt (when will I learn to wear darker colors?) or somehow getting sauce on my nose. So it’s nice sometimes to eat something that’s supposed to be messy. With sloppy right in the name, these lentil sloppy joes give me the perfect excuse for getting food everywhere. I’m feeling strangely suspicious of ground beef these days (although I do still find it hard to resist hamburgers), so I opted to make a vegetarian (vegan even!) version using lentils instead. Economical, filling, and fun to eat, these sloppy joes taste surprisingly similar to the traditional ones and are a snap to throw together. Just don’t eat them while wearing a white shirt.

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  • Vietnamese Shrimp Salad

    vietnamese shrimp salad

    We’ve had an exceptionally mild winter in DC this year (which, as someone with a very low tolerance for cold, I’ve actually enjoyed). At the beginning of March, temperatures suddenly shot up in the sixties and seventies, and it’s been feeling like spring ever since. With trees bursting into bloom and tulips out in full force right outside my front door, I just can’t bring myself to keep eating the same hearty soups and stews I’ve been relying on all winter. So when the recipe for this Vietnamese shrimp salad found its way into my inbox, I immediately set about cooking it. Crisp carrot, cucumber, and daikon radish tossed with fresh herbs and a ginger-lime dressing, then topped with shrimp and peanuts makes for the perfect refreshing dish for spring. Most of the work here is with chopping the vegetables and herbs, and once that’s done, the salad comes together really quickly. This made for a great weekend lunch all by itself, but it could also work as an appetizer.

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  • Roasted Pepper and Mushroom Paprikash

    roasted pepper and mushroom paprikash

    Paprikash is a Hungarian stew, usually made with chicken, where the spicing comes entirely from paprika. As a paprika lover, this stew is naturally a favorite of mine. I’ve made a more traditional version using chicken before, but was recently inspired to try out this vegetarian version. The sweetness of roasted peppers and earthiness of cremini mushrooms is a great match with the paprika (I think I’m going to start adding both to my chicken paprikash!), and I tossed in some lentils to make it a little heartier.

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  • Vegetable Korma

    vegetable korma

    Although Indian food is one of my favorites, I’ve often faltered when it comes to recreating my favorite curries. So after a friend of mine cooked up a very tasty vegetable korma, I knew I had to grab the recipe and make it my own. The use of cashew butter as a thickener adds some extra decadence (and protein) here, and I used my homemade Madras curry powder to make sure the flavors were fresh and strong. Ever since I’ve discovered the magic of roasting cauliflowers and carrots, especially when adding them to stews, I can’t resist so that’s what I’ve chosen here, but this curry would go well with any vegetables you have around (or with chicken or lamb, if you so desire). I served my korma with a quick cucumber mint raita – yogurt mixed with shredded cucumber, mint, and chaat masala – which will help cool the fire if your curry powder is nice and spicy (or if you opt to toss a fresh hot pepper or two in your korma).

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  • Curried Carrot Soup

    curried carrot soup

    I cook so many complex recipes that sometimes it’s nice to put together a simple dish. A dish with less than ten ingredients (even including the basics like olive oil, salt, and pepper!). This curried carrot soup builds on the natural sweetness of carrots, enhanced by oven roasting. The trick to the best flavor here is letting the carrots caramelize in the onion while caramelizing onions on the stove top. Using fresh curry powder is crucial (and freshly-ground homemade curry powder is ideal).

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  • Spicy Chickpea Stew

    spicy chickpea stew

    This blog probably makes it pretty clear that I have a great fondness for simple and flavorful one pot meals. This particular stew is perfect for warming up on a cold winter night. Roasting the cauliflower and carrots adds a great sweetness, and the spices provide a nice heat (and delicious flavor). I’m typically hesitant when it comes to fennel (and I did cut back on the amount here), but I think it really adds a lot. I served this stew with a good dollop of yogurt on top (sour cream would also work) to cut the spiciness of the cayenne pepper and add an extra tanginess, but it is still quite tasty without this addition. You can also serve this on top of couscous or with some bread.

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