Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season. Catch them on the Farm to Table episode of 'Rachael's Vacation' on the Food Network.
We had a bounty crop of carrots this year. We sliced them and diced them every which way we knew how and still they kept coming. It seems like you can open almost any refrigerator in America and find a neglected bag of carrots. You use one or two in a salad and then get stumped as to what to do with the rest.
We turned to our friend Sandy Gluck who always helps us out with our overstock. The result is a sweet and spicy carrot dish that will definitely clear up crisper space in refrigerators across the nation.
Find the recipe for Sicilian Glazed Carrots after the jump...
Today's the day to skip burgers and bacon -- it's World Vegetarian Day! Slashfood is celebrating the beginning of vegetarian-awareness month with lots of posts highlighting the best in fruits and veggies. They'll be a few roundups that aren't all-veg, but barring those, we're bringing you meat-free fare all day long. Check back here for posts on vegan wine, the best in vegetarian cookbooks and food festivals, plant-based recipes and more.
File under Common Sense: A new study finds that carrots cooked whole have 25 percent more cancer-fighting power than carrots that are chopped up before they're cooked.
Why? More cutting means more surface area. And more surface area means more exposure to cooking water, which leaches out the carrot's nutrients. Among those nutrients is falcarinol, an anti-cancer compound.
That discovery should come as no surprise to anyone who's ever eaten carrots that have been boiled within an inch of their life: the more they're cooked, the less flavor they retain. So it follows that if flavor can be lost, so can nutrients.
The scientists who conducted the study at England's Newcastle University also made the connection between lost nutrients and flavor, noting that the whole-cooked carrots also tasted better because they retained more of their natural sugars.
Better health and better flavor: a win-win situation, cloaked in a flattering shade of orange.
Shredded carrots are subjected to all sorts of injustices, usually involving large quantities of mayonnaise, sour cream or cream cheese. So it's refreshing to see a photo and recipe that capture their simple, sweet beauty.
Jenn of The Leftover Queen snapped this Caribbean carrot salad, which is oh-so-barely dressed with a few splashes of apple cider vinegar and grape seed oil and a spoonful of brown sugar. It looks crisp, cool and infinitely satisfying, an excellent way to enjoy the the iridescent goodness of carrots -- without having to dig for them.
Carrots in their natural state are pretty gorgeous, with their weird bumps and silly trailing roots and vibrant green fronds. So we love how Cathy at Not Eating Out in New York immortalized the homely beauty of these carrots, contrasting their striking colors with a bright blue plate. These carrots are the antidote to those bags of shiny, vaguely embarrassed looking nubs that go by the misnomer "baby carrots," making those look like Kraft singles alongside a wedge of Lincolnshire Poacher.
Cook Cathy marinated and grilled them, and paired them with pea shoots for what was undoubtedly an excellent and beta carotene-packed meal. We like to imagine them blended into a simple, silky carrot soup, grated into a vinegary cole slaw or just peeled and dunked whole into hummus.
During the winter, carrots are one of the few vegetables still being sold in large quantities. They are often planted in early spring, mature in early autumn, and are stored for winter consumption. They're a sweet and tasty source of vitamin A, and they're high in fiber.
Besides their vibrant orange color, carrots add a distinctive bright sweet taste to dishes. They can serve as part of a traditional crudités along with raw celery, broccoli, and cauliflower. Or, you can make them the centerpiece of a dinner table.
The one thing I always understood growing up at the dinner table was "leave enough carrots for your father." Carrots are probably my father's favorite vegetable and after coming across this recipe, I couldn't help myself but to think of him after tasting every tender bite.
I was lucky, growing up I experienced meals that were properly cooked and well seasoned. While other kids were afraid of eating their vegetables, I happily indulged. This recipe comes close to something I grew up on: brown sugared carrots. A little more involved, but oh-so worth it, these carrots bath in a mixture of buttery, pomegranate molasses. Bold spices like freshly grated ginger and cayenne pepper set this recipe apart from others.
Tip: While orange carrots will suffice, try visiting your local farmers' market for colorful varieties, which will pop on a white serving platter.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Check out Oender's luscious and highly edible-looking circular bento. Clockwise from left to right we have tofu and bok choy potstickers with tofu peanut noodles on a bed of spinach, pumpkin and bean mash with a carved bok choy flower; peas, corn, and carrot coins; and mixed fruit salad with a carved apple bunny.
I haven't been posting many recipes lately, mostly because I've been in something of dry spell when it comes to cooking. However, I haven't been staying totally out of the kitchen. Last weekend I made a pot of butternut and carrot soup that ended up being really tasty and the perfect thing to eat for lunch all week long (one of the wonderful things about this new job of mine is that it's only a block and a half from my apartment, so I can run home for lunch).
I admit that when it comes to this soup, I "cheat" a little bit. What I mean by that is that I use a pack of pre-peeled and chopped butternut squash from Trader Joe's (I've also seen it at Whole Foods). Then all I have to do is roughly chop an onion, saute it quickly in a little olive oil, toss in three or four chunks carrots, pile in the prepared squash and cover it with water or stock (I typically use one box of stock and then make up the difference with water). Then it just gently simmers until the veggies are tender. I recently acquired a far more powerful immersion blender, and it has made my blended soup far smoother than they used to be.
You might be wondering about seasoning with this soup. I actually change it up each time I make it. Sometimes I'll grate a little ginger in, or go with a spoonful of curry. This last time I used a bit of fresh thyme and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It might sound a little untraditional, but it was delicious. I also happened to have about a quarter cup of cream in my fridge and I added that in as well for a little extra smoothness. But you should feel free to make this soup your own.
Most of the United States will be springing an hour early this Sunday morning, and so in honor of this early arrival of spring, I thought I'd post a yummy-looking picture of a salad that seems appropriate for the season. Prepared, photographed and I'm assuming eaten by Flickr user ccharmon, this is a salad I see myself recreating at some point down the line.
If your cooking is taking a turn for the spring-like, why don't you take some pictures and share them with us over on the Slashfood Flickr page. Go on, tempt us with your delicious creations.
Aside from general health benefits like vitamins and beta-carotene, carrots supposedly stimulate men because of -- what else? -- their phallic shape. Carrots were used by early Middle Eastern royalty to aid in seduction. I'm not quite sure if they waved bunches of carrots around in the air, but for our Valentine's Day, I'd suggest something slightly less in-your-face. My choice would be carrot cake. You might lose the visual power of the carrot's long, phallic shape, but who doesn't get aroused by cream cheese frosting?
I know the words genetic and engineering in the same sentence are very frightening to some. Until recently I was opposed to it myself, and I still have some reservations. But in light of all the benefits we've gained from tinkering with vegetable genes, I think we should give it a chance. Lets start with super carrots.
Scientists working at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas have developed a carrot that will deliver 41% more calcium than a regular carrot. To do it, they altered a gene which lets the vegetables calcium flow more easily through its membranes. This modification alone wouldn't get you 100% of the recommended daily calcium, but any little bit helps; especially if you are allergic to dairy.
There is a lot more testing to be done before the super carrots are ready for mass consumption. But as scientists find more health hazards in high fat diets, this may be one of the best ways to get the calcium you need while avoiding high fat dairy products. In the future, the slogan for osteoporosis prevention may be "Eat Your Carrots!"
For most of yesterday, it was sort of chilly and overcast in Philly (it got sunny and warm in the late afternoon). The cool breeze that came through my window all morning made me thinking longingly of fall and want to put on a sweater. It also inspired me to make soup. However, since it is still summer, I wanted something that wasn't long-simmering or heavy. So I flipped to a soup that my mom made a lot when I was growing up, although back in those days, I always turned my nose up at it. These days, I can't get enough of it, especially when I had a weekend that was chock full off barbecue, desserts and beer.
I know the words genetic and engineering in the same sentence are very frightening to some. Until recently I was opposed to it myself, and I still have some reservations. But in light of all the benefits we've gained from tinkering with vegetable genes, I think we should give it a chance. Lets start with super
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