Carrots All Day

Munching carrots all day long
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Sunny colored, tasty sweet
That veggie is a winner

The hazard of selling your wares at a farmers market is that you are often too busy serving customers to shop and when you are not selling, a visit to a market is not always the first choice of activity. I miss the days of strolling through the market and laying carefully selected fresh produce into my big red shopping basket.  Now my shopping trips are more of a grab and run affair. At a market recently, I saw my friend from Winter Moon Farm and his rainbow array of root vegetables.  With only a few minutes to spare, I said a quick hello and filled a bag about to the bursting point with yellow, pale orange, bright orange, and red carrots and one ridiculously large daikon radish and rushed back to my booth.  My hubby saw the bag and reminded me that I had just bought several pounds of carrots at the supermarket. Not to worry I assured him; I had a plan that would use a lot of carrots. Now all I had to do was figure out what that plan was…
With a bit of creative thinking, I made a new recipe for low-fat carrot bread, a carrot and daikon salad, and I used the carrots for a “nest” under a roasted chicken. We also ate carrots with homemade white bean dip, carrots in chicken salad, and a few carrots found their way into meatloaf. Suddenly, the worry about what to do with all those carrots was replaced with counting the days until the next market when I can get more!

Low-Fat Carrot and Cranberry Bread
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites
1/3 cup orange juice
zest of one medium orange
1/2 cup dried cranberries
(Loaf pan and cooking spray for pan)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in egg whites, orange juice and zest and mix until combined. Add carrots and cranberries and stir until blended together. Spray the loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes until well browned and cooked in the center.

Carrot and Daikon Salad with Dried Cranberries
3 1/2 cups of shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded daikon
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine carrots, daikon, and cranberries in a bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the carrot mixture. Chill in refrigerator in a covered bowl or jar for at least two hours (overnight is better).

 

Sunshine for Supper

Last weekend was the opening day for the winter market at Mahoney’s Garden Center in Winchester.  Our Doves and Figs booth was set between some sweeping potted palms and a large display of citrus trees. I remember vacationing in Florida as a child and driving through orange groves.  The heavenly scent of white blossoms and the cheery round orange fruit.  It was a great day with lots of people tasting and buying jam and local friends stopping in to shop and say hello.  When I got home I could not stop thinking about oranges.  I planned several new citrus jam and marmalade recipes and then I bought a big bag of navel oranges and brought my orange obsession to dinner.

I roasted some carrots, turnips, and beets that I bought at the market.  When the vegetables were tender, I let them cool slightly and then splashed them with a mix of fresh orange juice, a bit of orange zest, some fig jam, white balsamic vinegar, and a dash of black pepper.   

The main course was orange sesame salmon. I dusted the salmon fillets with flour and paprika.  The fish was then seared on both sides in a hot pan lightly coated with olive oil.  I added a blend of orange juice, rice wine, minced garlic, minced ginger, and a drop of sesame oil to the pan.  As the salmon cooked the sauce reduced and thickened almost to a glaze.  Just before serving, I sprinkled the fish with toasted white and black sesame seeds. 

I served the sesame salmon and the roasted root vegetables with a simple green salad, and jasmine rice into which I mixed caramelized onions. It was a sunny supper for a winter night.