Wednesday, January 06, 2010

If You Carrot All

For some reason, I've been having an urge to get more carrots into my diet.
I'm not wild about them, but I don't dislike them, either. I just think they're good food, and I should eat more.
I tried one of Ilva's ideas, sauteing sliced carrots with thyme. They came out a little burny, but good. Then I kind of forgot about them.
Until Cranky wanted to make some mashed potatoes to serve with boudin blanc. Ooh! Ooh! I said "Let's do a mixed mash!" We also had a turnip on the premises for some reason. So we cooked each vegetable to its personal specifications, and then ran them through the food mill together to get a pale tangerine mush.
You might not even be interested in this food. It's bland, funny and a little bit lightweight. (Only now do I realize how heavy pure mashed potatoes are.) But it's sophisticated and delicious, and I'm doing it again. With garlic.

21 comments:

Amy Sherman said...

You say bland, I say comfort food.

Zoomie said...

Another vote for the "with garlic" from here. Sounds delicious. And so pretty.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Mashed veg was the only way mum could trick us into eating pumpkin & neeps when we were wee. I love the fluffy stuff.
Not bland, more, softly flavoured I think.

Chilebrown said...

You might consider growing some. Once you taste how sweet they can be, and You will also feel obligated because of all the work.

Anonymous said...

I love root vegetable mash... they're good with horseradish too, if you want to give it an extra kick.

cookiecrumb said...

Amy: Wow, bland is so comforting. I'm sorry I didn't know this mess before.

Zoomie: It's pretty, and alarmingly healthy. xx!

Mouse: Pumpkin! Oh, not fair. But fluffy -- yeah, that's the ticket.

Chilebrown: I am so growing some. In stages. You are my farmer consultant.

Zia: Drool!

Hungry Dog said...

Mm, I love carrots, I eat them all the time...but never mashed. Good thinkin'.

Melanie said...

That's a very cool idea. I'm going to try that!

cookiecrumb said...

Hungry Dog: Yeah, give it a try. There's no reason to be freaked by the color -- it's freakin' carrots!

Melanie: It's so boneheadedly easy, too. Have fun.

meathenge said...

What you think? Put mash in casserole, sprinkle with crumbly cheese and brown in oven? I got no idea, considering my vegetable challenged palate. But I figure, adding cheese and browning top in hot oven usually does good?

xo, The Rev

cookiecrumb said...

Biggles: Mash heaven. I'm doing that next time. You probably will too.

kudzu said...

I've had this strange yen for cooked carrots all winter (must be my Vitamin D deficiency screaming out). I love 'em. Will try a mash, soon. Neeps? Haven't seen that endearing little word in a long time. Tatties and neeps and carrots: good mix.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: If you don't already follow my Australian friend DancingMorganMouse, you might love her posts.
And I love you.

Ferdzy said...

I think that's great, and funny.

You have just invented a classic Scottish dish called "clapshot". Congratulations!

(Seriously. I luuurrrvvve clapshot.)

EB of SpiceDish said...

And really who doesn't want sophisticated veggies???

Greg said...

Once again with garlic! I be liking the carrot with ginger mon! My daughter is playing reggae and it's rubbing off.

cookiecrumb said...

Ferdzy: Fantastic! Thank you for telling me about it. I LOVE the name "clapshot."

EB: But of course. Even so, you could fob this off on a baby and say you scraped it out of a Gerber's jar.

Greg: Ginger is very nice with carrots. Not quite sure if I'd like it with potatoes and turnips, though. :)

peter said...

Clapshot sounds like something Austin Powers and/or David Beckham might use as a modifier for a lost weekend.

I'm all about the mixed purées. It's like baby food, but for grown-ups!

cookiecrumb said...

Peter: Those naughty Scots! Penis-cillin jokes and all.
BTW, I am much inspired by your profusion of mashy mushy vegetables, even the lavender potatoes.

steelystyle said...

I was always pretty meh about carrots until I made this fantastic french inspired blended soup...plenty of fresh peppers, garlic, and thyme, a splash of white wine, no stock necessary. Yup.

cookiecrumb said...

outofdoors: Sounds divine. Thyme heals all wounds.