Luckily for me, my husband is a pretty adventurous eater. Unluckily for him, he married a girl who has a tough time even thinking of foods she dislikes . . . fava beans are the only thing that come immediately to mind. I might think of some more if you give me a minute . . . um, overcooked broccoli?
So Jared often gets teased (by me, his loving wife) about being picky, even though by comparison, he really isn't. Poor guy. Why does he put up with me? Maybe because I make this and these and (especially) these.
Incidentally, I love most of the food my husband hates, but I happily eat them on my own. More roasted eggplant and hummus for me!
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Sweet carrot dishes belong on Jared's list of taboo foods. I therefore wanted to find a way to cook carrots that didn't involve candying them, and this is what I found. It's great.
Moroccan Carrot Salad
(mostly from this)
1 1/2 lbs carrots, scrubbed and trimmed*
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder**
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
olive oil
salt and pepper
chopped parsley
1) Chop carrots into bite-size chunks. Mine were about 3/4 inch long but you could go smaller. Steam or boil the chunks just until tender; you definitely do not want mush, so err on the side of firmness. Drain well and dump into a mixing bowl.
2) Whisk together lemon juice and next seven ingredients. Pour over carrots and toss to mix. Add olive oil, salt and pepper, and parsley to taste. (I for one didn't use much olive oil, but went pretty heavy on the salt. We like salt!)
3) You can serve this warm, at room temperature, or chilled. What a nice person I am, always giving you options!
*No, I usually don't peel my carrots. They are one of the vegetables that I always buy organic, and their skin is never bitter or tough.
**Or a small garlic clove, minced.
