Break out the chef’s knife.
Break out the chef’s knife.
One of the oft over-looked benefits of growing your own food is the compulsion to prepare something very special and tasty with it. After planting, weeding, watering, and giving them your tender solicitude, you’re not about to waste your green beans by boiling them and serving them plain with salt. You’re going to dig out your cookbooks and special skillets and long-neglected spices. Homegrown produce, however, is so tasty and flavorful by itself that it doesn’t require much dressing up. “So that’s what carrots taste like!” Papa exclaimed when he tasted a gold coin from our vegetable salad.
I was in the garden the other day, pottering à la Lord Emsworth. (If I have a pocket of time, I’ll often go out to survey my little fief with lordly pride. Poke in the dirt a bit. And speak a few harsh words for the caterpillars who have bunkered down in my lettuce.) I noticed that the carrots were looking especially perky, and a little exploration proved that many roots were ready for harvest. Out they came, and a splashing of water revealed their beautiful colors: orange, yellow, red, and purple.
The delight of having four different kinds of carrots is in tasting each and every one. Yes, different kinds of carrots do in fact taste uniquely different. That is one of the pleasures we surrendered for the convenience of standard species. Where we once had hundreds of potatoes, we now have yukon, russet, and red. Where we had hundreds of lettuce varieties, we now have iceberg and romaine. Where we had hundreds of apples, we now have Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious. Though clever packaging deceives us into thinking we enjoy great variety, we are depending more and more on a mere handful of plant varieties.
That was a bit of a lecture. Ahem.
vv The carrots wait for their turn in the oven. That’s a Wacky Cake to the right. In the lower right-hand corner is my ubiquitous glass of ice water. I wouldn’t last very long on a dessert. Oops. Desert. I was remembering how nice the cake tasted.
The Cosmic Purple carrots, with their bright purple skin, orange flesh, and yellow cores were my favorites, not only for their color but for their sweet flavor and tender bite. The Amarillo carrots, sweet and juicy, were tied with the Atomic Red for second place. The St. Valery carrot had a very assertive carrot flavor that took some getting used to. After this, store-bought carrots tasted bland with a terrible chemical aftertaste.
Warning: Growing your own food is a great way to ruin you for eating anything else. You may have to do it for the rest of your life. Just saying.
Because I wanted to highlight rather than mask or blend these individual flavors. I roasted the carrots with minimal seasoning: enough olive oil for everything to glisten and a few dashes of sea salt and black pepper. After they roasted at 400℉ for +25 minutes, I added some fresh chopped parsley and served them.
We bought our carrot (and other) seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. The variety is stunning and perhaps a bit paralyzing. And tempting, which is why we have four kinds of carrots.
“Let my words, like vegetables, be tender and sweet, for tomorrow I may have to eat them.”
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ELISSA said...
What gorgeous carrots! I was completely ignorant of the fact that there were carrots of different colors, how intriguing! I wish we had been able to plant a vegetable garden this year! I love home-grown veggies! Those roasted carrots look delectable. YUM!!!
Oh, and I got a laugh out of your “pottering.” Lord Emsworth is such a delightfully funny and memorable character.
Saturday, May 1, 2010 03:13 PM
HANDMAIDEN said...
The year’s not over yet. :-)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:34 AM
STEPHANIE said...
Wow! I too thought carrots were always orange. This proves your point about our ignorance of the great variety of plants. Your success is encouraging, as we’ve had setbacks in our gardening attempts... I think you’ve inspired us to try again. =)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:55 AM
HANDMAIDEN said...
Keep gardening! We’re still trying to figure it out. ;-)
Saturday, May 15, 2010 07:36 AM
Tuesday, April 27, 2010