JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Carrots and capers

So delicious. This is adapted from Marcella Hazan via the wonderful Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska (how's that for a great name, even better concept?). We ate these for supper last night, and I know they will be a staple of this kitchen.

I was a little worried that cooking the parsley would make it go that rather nasty dark grey colour, but it was still bright green after 10-15 minutes, so I didn't feel the need to add the extra raw parsley I'd kept back for the purpose. And I didn't use garlic. So I'm posting my recipe, whereas Laurie posts the Hazan original. I am deliberately vague about the quantities: put in as much parsley as you need to make it look pretty, and roughly equal quantities of capers. If the idea of capers seems daunting, try a few, and I bet you'll put more the second time you make it ...

Carrots and capers

Carrots
Capers, rinsed and dried
Olive oil
finely chopped parsley

Prepare carrots by scraping and cutting into strips as if you were making crudites. Fry them gently in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes, then add the parsley and a little water. Cook until all the water is gone and the carrots are tender (add more water if necessary). Stir in the capers and carry on cooking the carrots in the oil that remains in the pan until everything is amalgamated.

This is my entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Gay at A Scientist in the Kitchen ... a little cheeky, as Laurie was last week's host

Other things to do with carrots

Carrot bites
Carrots cooked in orange juice, with anchovy dressing
Three root mash

Links to interesting carrot posts on other blogs

Carrot and corn masala at Monsoon Spice
Braised Carrots with Garlic, Thyme and White Wine at Daily Unadventures in Cooking

8 comments:

A Scientist in the Kitchen said...

This gives me a new idea for trying capers. I use it mostly for pastas...

Kalyn Denny said...

Mmmm, I think the combination of carrots with capers sounds interesting. Definitely something I haven't tried. I'm sure Laurie will be flattered you're posting her recipe so quickly!

Anonymous said...

Mediterranean cooking in Alaska, now that is a concept to get the mind ticking over. Blog looks great thoug - thanks. I like the sound of the carrot recipe and it made me dig out my mother's pickled carrots recipe which we haven't had for a while either. We'll have no trouble seeing in the dark this week LOL

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Carrots, we love them so much raw, I often forget they are wonderful cooked too. These look good Joanna.
Mediterranean & Alaska are an interesting juxtaposition but how about Alaska and Mexican. When we were in Barrow Alaska there was a Mexican Restaurant called Pepe's, just the best.

Laurie Constantino said...

Joanna, I'm so glad you liked it and Kalyn is right; I'm flattered you made it so quickly. One correction though just to protect Marcella's reputation - I've adapted her recipe and use more parsley, garlic, and capers than she does...we like lots of flavor in my house!

Anonymous said...

Hi Joanna,

I just stumbled in here following the "Heart of the Matter" trail from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska to The Accidental Scientist to...Here!

I'm glad to have found you, you've built a great resource of tasty, healthy stuff here that I'm going to spend some enjoyable time reading.

And I, too, plan to try Laurie's carrot and caper recipe soon. Glad to hear there's another taster vouching for it. Not that I had any doubts! :-)

Katerina said...

A Marcella book I have never heard of? Cool! Thanks for including me.

Joanna said...

Lulu, I love these trails round cyberspace, they seem to be the best way to find new blogs ... and now I'm really pleased to have found yours, too, lots of lovely Greek dishes to try

Joanna