Monday, January 22, 2007

Latest Carrot Fad

Mrs Jiffler is currently in Mauritania, being generally jammy, and hopefully enjoying the privileges of our work by having a good neb around the Parc National Du Banc D’Arguin (an important wetland and stopover for migrating birds). Despite being stuck in Hertfordshire, I’m still in the habit of doing a solo Sunday roast, partly for the fun of it, and partly because it means I can use up the stock and leftovers for my lunch and tea for the next few days. This Sunday seemed an appropriate day to do a roast as a walk in the hills around the town had given me an appetite. It was the music monthly magazine in the Observer as well, which I enjoy cynically flicking through in the kitchen while waiting for the oven to warm up.
The purchase of the mini-wok from Lakeland (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/kitchenideas/potsandpans!10985) has brought a few changes to my usual Sunday roast routine. Carrots of course are an essential part of the deal with a roast, and I’ve played around with various ways of preparing them. With a roast dinner, the meat is obviously the main event, the reason for the whole show; while potatoes (and Yorkshire puddings) provide a balance of textures (crunchy on the outside, fluffy in the middle) and also a platform for a good gravy to work its magic. Green veg lend a veneer of healthiness to the meal, but would almost certainly be the first thing we’d sacrifice if we had to. Parsnips should always be used in moderation - its woody sweetness should be more of an occasional surprise rather than dominating the plate. The carrot’s role in the whole roast dinner medley should be to bring along a bit of glamour to the conservative sturdiness of the meal – an eye catching orange sunrise at one side of the plate.
Little mini carrots are very aesthetically pleasing when roasted with the green stalks just slightly trimmed, although I find this sort of thing can be a bit trendy. Once, when I was an undergraduate, I did some experiments growing carrots in pots, spacing them very close together without fertiliser. The resulting stunted carrots were about 3cm long and 4mm at the thickest part. With enough pots (occupying most of one corner of the massive university green houses) you had enough for a couple of good portions, quickly stir-fried, with your Sunday dinner. The flavour was immense, like being poked in the eye with a carrot.
Anyhow with this in mind, and the mini-wok in hand, I set about cutting up my carrot into matchstick sized bits, and stir-frying in olive oil with ginger, throwing in some coriander right at the end. It’s a marvellous way of bringing some new flavours into the Sunday roast and takes no time at all. It looks rather pleasing on the plate as well as the stir-frying really brings out the colours.
I’d recommend the mini-wok anyway. Perhaps through this blog I can do what Delia did in the 90’s for sales of Lakeland’s marvellous omelette pan. Its works marvellously and is ideal for doing side portions or quickie lunchtime stir-frying (I even cooked greek elephant beans in it once). Its handle is slightly too heavy though so you have to be careful it doesn’t tip over if using on a gas hob.
By the way, if you’re planning on making the rabbit casserole from the other week, keep the bones for a stock (you can freeze them, or make up the stock and freeze that). I’ve got a rabbit and chorizo risotto on the horizon for next week which may very well be worth a go.

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