Last year, when I was in Marrakech with a good friend, we had a Moroccan carrot salad among other mezze before a delicious chicken and olive tagine. My first bite of these tart, tender carrots gave me heart-eyes. I was in food love. The other salads, all made of cooked and marinaded veggies and pulses like zucchini, roasted peppers and lentils.
I’ll be working on some of them in the future.
Sometimes the cold starter plates are the best part of the meal. Just enough to pique your hunger, they’re often addictive flavor-bombs. Spicy Korean kimchi, creamy Mexican guacamole, smoky Turkish baba ghanoush… and earthy, zesty Moroccan carrots.
Even in the still heat of Morocco in August, it was hard to stop myself from gorging on tangy, spiced vegetables and stay level-headed about the tagine to come.
I’m still not sure mine will ever live up in my mind to the carrots we enjoyed on a Marrakesh rooftop on that hot summer’s night, but I don’t want them to. Traveling is about oversized memories of otherwise mundane moments.
You don’t need a full on North African meal to enjoy your own Moroccan carrot salad – it’s a lovely side to have for lunch with a sandwich, or with a roast beast (or veggie beast) for dinner.
The carrots need at least a few hours to soak up all that spice and tang. It’s worth it to be rewarded with complexity that’s hard to find in a typical cooked carrot.
I compared a few different ways of making these, and steaming and boiling gave me the same results in texture and flavor, so I prefer to steam them to keep nutrients from being thrown away with the boiled water.
This recipe was adapted from one in a Moroccan cookbook that, unfortunately, I don’t know the name of. (But thanks to Mimouna for sharing it with me!)
Serves 4
10 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
2 hr, 20 Total Time
Save RecipeOn the Counter
- 500 g (~1 lb) carrots
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 clove finely minced garlic
- fresh parsley, chopped finely
- 1/2 tsp milled or table salt
What to Do
- Lightly salt the carrots.
- Steam them for 5-7 minutes, until crispy-tender.
- Mix up a dressing with the olive oil, cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, lemon juice and vinegar
- Rinse the carrots under cold water, then shake them as dry as you can.
- Toss them with the dressing and fresh parsley.
- Let the carrots marinade in the refrigerator for at least an hour, but they will taste better if you can leave them in for longer. I actually prefer them even more the next day.
Cranachan (pronounced cran-ock – apparently). It’s a lightly creamy, slightly crunchy, sweetly tart Scottish dessert. It’s built for summer. The thing is – it’s definitely not summer, and it’s absolutely not raspberry season. But with Burns Night around the corner, I’m not letting that stop me. This is my Winterised Cranachan.
If you know what I mean by Burns Night, you’re welcome to just skip on down the post. It’s a celebration of the life and work of Scottish poet Robert Burns, whose birthday is on January 25. Dinner usually involves haggis, Scottish whisky, poetry and dessert (obviously).
A traditional cranachan combines fresh raspberries, whipped cream and toasted oats. For Burns Night, I’ve combined a few of my favorite Scottish things into a seasonally appropriate, rich and boozy version. It combines a whisky-spiked custard, macerated frozen raspberries and crumbled shortbread cookies into a winter cranachan fit for a chilly evening.
You don’t have to use whisky for the custard but … why wouldn’t you? My preference is Glenmorangie 10 year. Its floral, delicate flavor doesn’t overpower the creaminess of the custard or the tartness of the raspberries. Even though I love everything smoky, in this case I would steer clear of a peated whisky, as you risk the taste of barbecued dessert.
You can make everything in advance and construct it just before serving.
Note: I know a few people who can’t eat eggs (understandable) or hate custard (not understandable), so I’ve included a little note about a substitution if you fall into either of those categories.
Winter cranachan
Serves: 2-4, depending on how generous your portions are
Whisky-soaked raspberries
100 grams frozen raspberries
1 tsp honey (heather honey if you have it)
20 mL (just over 1 tbsp) Scottish (non-peated) whisky
Mix the raspberries, honey and whisky in a jar and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to 1 day. After the first 30 minutes, crush the raspberries down to ensure they’re all sitting in liquid.
Whisky custard*
2 egg yolks
30 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
120 mL double (heavy) cream
1 tsp Scottish (non-peated) whisky (optional)
Set a small, heavy bottomed sauce pan on to very low heat. Add the cream and vanilla, and heat it until bubbles start to form or it starts to noticeably thicken. This will take a few minutes, but don’t walk away!
Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until smooth.
Once your cream is ready, take the pan off the heat. Very slowly pour a thin stream of warm cream into the egg, occasionally whisking, until about half the cream is incorporated into the egg.
Still off the heat, slowly pour the egg/cream mix back into the saucepan and whisk them together.
Put the pan back on the heat and keep whisking.
It’s ready when it coats the back of a spoon, but you can keep cooking for longer for a thicker custard. (It will thicken even more in the refrigerator.)
Off the heat, stir in the whisky and refrigerate until you’re ready to construct.
Construction
50 g shortbread cookies
Crush up the shortbread cookies until you have rough pieces. Don’t turn them into dust.
In dessert dishes or lowball drinking glasses, alternate layers of raspberries, custard and crushed shortbread. Save your bigger pieces of shortbread for the topping.
* Whisky whipped cream
120 mL double/heavy cream
2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp Scottish whisky
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Combine the cream, sugar, whisky and vanilla. Whisk by hand or use an electric mixer, until you get stiff peaks.
]]>I can’t promise these will fit into everyone’s New Year resolutions. If you’re planning to waste less food – yes. If you’re intending to read more books… probably not. Vegetarian/vegan for January? Trying to eat healthier? I got you. Want to donate more to charity? You’re probably better off here or here.
These are nachos, but not the kind you get at a baseball game, or from a pub with a loose definition of the term nachos. They can be as home-made (and as healthy) as you want them to be. You can buy most of the ingredients pre-made. You do what you gotta to enjoy your nachos.
Here’s what I do, and I’ll try to clue you in on where you can save time or keep from buying a load of ingredients.
Whenever we have burritos, there always seem to be tortillas leftover from a pack of 8. I hate wasting food, so I often freeze the remainders until they’re ready for future burritos, or turn them into baked tortilla chips. Sometimes it’s hard to keep them for long enough to turn them into nachos because they’re so addictive. You’ve been warned.
Note for vegan eaters: If you can get your hands on a smooth cashew spread, it’s a delicious cheese alternative. And this is coming from an avowed cheese addict! Just dollop some on top of your nachos, or use it on the side as a dip. I first tried Gozo, a great option for those local to London.
New Year’s Resolution Nachos
Serves: 2 as a main, 4 as a snack
baked tortilla chips (see below)
200 g refried beans
5 or 6 pickled jalapenos, chopped (optional)
50 mL (1.5 oz) sour cream (optional)
guacamole or…
2 avocados, peeled, seed removed and chopped
the juice of 1/4 lime
pinch of salt
jarred salsa or… homemade pico de gallo
10 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 shallot or 1/4 medium red onion, diced
a small bunch of fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, chopped
1 red chile pepper, chopped (leave the seeds in if you like it spicier)
the juice of 1/4 lime
pinch of salt
grated cheddar cheese or… cheese sauce
50 grams (1.7 oz) cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp flour
What to Do
Mix the pico de gallo ingredients together and set aside. It’ll taste better if it’s had some time to sit.
Combine the avocado, lime juice and salt. Crush it up and set it aside.
Heat the refried beans, either in the microwave or on the stove top. I add a splash of water to loosen them up a bit. On the stove top, it should take about 5 minutes on low-medium heat.
In an oven-safe dish, spread your tortilla chips out so they’re in as few layers as possible. Top with hot refried beans, pico de gallo, cheese sauce and guacamole. (If you’re using grated cheese, top with beans, pico de gallo (or salsa) and sprinkle the cheese on top, then put them in the grill/broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.)
Top with japalenos and dollops of sour cream. Serve immediately.
Baked Tortilla Chips
4 10-inch (25.4 cm) whole wheat tortillas
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
What to Do
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F.
Slice the tortillas into triangles, or as close as you can get to triangles. You can get about 10 chip-sized pieces per tortilla.
Put the pieces in a bowl and add oil and salt. Top the bowl with a plate or another bowl, hold tight and shake to coat the tortilla pieces.
Spread the tortilla pieces in one layer on a baking sheet (or a few, depending how big your sheets are).
Bake for 5 minutes, then check on them. If they’re not brown and crunchy yet, check on them every 2 minutes. They go from perfect to burned in no time.
]]>Happy 2016! My resolution for the first week of this year is to share this post, so I’m going to start the year on a high note.
Blogging is fun, but it can also be tough sometimes.
I could have started one of those stream-of-consciousness sites where people write about whatever it is they’ve done over the weekend, with photos of a soap dispenser in a restaurant bathroom, or deep insights into their favorite Instagram memes.
But I didn’t, so here I am.
The reason I’m even getting blog-osophical is that I ended 2015 with blogger’s block. Cooking is still happening, and some of it has been fun and very successful (some less so) but it just doesn’t make it online. No photos (ok maybe a few), no testing, no tweaking.
Instead I’m going to round up some of my favorite recent recipes from the big sites like BBC Good Food (seriously the best) and fellow bloggers.
Here’s what I’ve been making lately:
Cod with Lemon and Tarragon (Nigel Slater)
I found this recipe in Eat, a Nigel Slater cookbook, but lots of his recipes are published in the Observer/Guardian. It’s really easy but looks and tastes much more complex. I got the best cod I could. It makes a difference.
Char Siu (Burp Appetit)
When it was time to release the pork belly from its freezer hibernation, I tried this. I had no idea char siu could be so easy at home! Next time, there will also be buns.
Vegan White Bean Chili (Bon Appetit)
Warm and full of winter veggies. I add a lot less water so it’s less like soup, and use canned beans instead of dried, because I am not organized enough to soak beans a day in advance.
Blueberry Crumble Traybake (Holy Crabness)
This one first came into play for a summer barbecue, back when blueberries were in season. Though mine weren’t nearly as pretty as Emma’s, they were gobbled up without any hesitation.
Apple Cider Doughnuts (NY Times)
There is no craving like a homeland craving, and I decided I wanted cider doughnuts. Keep in mind cider doesn’t even mean the same thing here as it does in the Northeast US, and I’d never made doughnuts before…
But doughnuts I got. Delicious, cidery, imperfect doughnuts. (Props to Brambletye Farms, who make an unfiltered apple juice that worked so well in this.)
