Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Recipe for Carrots with Rosemary and Orange

Wondering what to do with those lovely bright orange carrots that you bought at the Farmers Market last weekend? Well, what about this side salad of carrots with rosemary and orange? The recipe for rosmariinimarinoidut porkkanat is from Finfood - a Finnish state-supported agency whose sole purpose is to promote good food, local produce, and healthy eating. Sounds nice and virtuous, doesn't it! The joys of Nordic welfare state..

I followed the recipe to the letter to start with. Next time - and as long as I have some nice organic carrots there will definitely be a next time - I'll add a bit less oil and sugar, otherwise I'll stick to it.

Carrots with Rosemary and Orange
(Rosmariiniporgandid)



500 grams of carrots
1-2 onions
300 ml water
1 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
grated orange zest (optional)
100 ml orange juice
3 Tbsp rapeseed oil* or light olive oil
black peppercorns, slightly crushed

Peel the carrots and onions and slice both thinly. Put into a large saucepan, add water, sugar, salt, rosemary and some orange zest.



Bring to the boil, covered, and simmer until carrots are done, but still a bit crunchy (al dente then:)
Let it cool a little, remove the cooked rosemary sprig. Add the orange juice, oil and some fresh chopped rosemary.
Put into jars and let it stand for at least 24 hours in a fridge, so the flavours could develop.

Rosemary flavoured carrots would add a nice tough to poultry, meat, grilled goat cheese etc. I can personally add that they are also absolutely delicious for nibbling on their own (you just need a fork to get them out of the jar and into your mouth). Here's a near-perfect late night dinner I had on Sunday:



Near-perfect, as I couldn't find any crispy baguettes at 10pm in Edinburgh - not surprisingly, as I must have been the only person in the Scottish capital craving for crispy carbs late at night. But I had got peckish after seeing a fantastic Omid Djalili show at the Fringe - and as there were no baguettes at sight, I had to go for some rather bland pita bread instead. Not bad, actually, but I think the rosemary carrots are definitely more crispy-baguette-kind-of-carrots than toasted-pita-bread-kind-of-carrots (even if the latter are organic etc..)

Consume within a week.

* Rapeseed oil is grown locally both in Finland (rapsiöljy) and Estonia (rapsiõli) and it's being heavily promoted these days. It's the only oil plant (Brassica rapa var. oleifera) that thrives so high up in the North (so it's local), and it has a very balanced fatty acid combination, containing more saturated (good) fats than olive oil (so it's also healthy), making it suitable both for using in salads and mayonnaise as well as for frying and baking (so it's also versatile). The cold pressed rape oil is often referred to as 'virgin oil' in Finland, a title that is usually reserved for cold pressed olive oil...

UPDATE 30.8.2005:
See how fellow foodblogger
Paz recreated this recipe.

11 comments:

Stephanie said...

I'm so happy you're food blogging now! I'll be adding you to my list of 'daily reads'...

tanvi said...

this recipe is so intriguing- in a good way! ive just started reading your blog, its great! have a good vacation :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing that Finnish food link...I spent some time in Finland a while back (and actually took a day trip to Estonia!) and I do miss it. I'm excited to go through the recipes now :-) Have a good vacation!

Anonymous said...

carrots with rosemary and orange. hmm.. i'd like to try this.

Have a fun and safe trip!

Paz

Joycelyn said...

hi pille, you always have the most intriguing and fascinating recipes to share! that sounds fabulous...can't wait to hear all about your trip...cheers,j

Pille said...

Hi Stephanie - thanks, I'm honoured to be included on your list of daily reads!

Moira - I've already had 3 great days at home: visited some lovely new cafes, enjoyed traditional birthday dishes, ate my Mum's freshly made cucumbers in brine, had chantarelle sauce with new potatoes for dinner last night and have eaten loads of black and redcurrants, apples and gooseberries from my garden. Oh - and I've spotted a tiny shop with a very nice selection of wooden knives:)

Tanvi - welcome to my blog and hope to see you back soon!

Joey - happy to be of help. I like the Finfood site a lot, as they provide lots of nice Finnish recipes (quite similar to Estonian food, though slightly sweeter), as well as lots of international recipes adapted for the Nordic tastebuds. The English language site is not very extensive, but not bad at all.. (And happy to know that at least one of my readers has been to my home town:)

Paz - let me know what you thought of it when you decide to make it! You can buy those small "Parisian carrots" here (ready peeled and shaped like small ca 1 cm balls) - I thought these could be really attractive on a more festive table prepared like this. It won't be easy to find rosemary here unfortunately, but if I do, i might get my family's opinion on those carrots as well..

Hi J - thanks for your kind words again, am honoured that someone like you finds my recipes fascinating (they're very much on the humble side compared to your much more adventurous cooking thou..)

Pille said...

Paz wrote:
Pille, I made the carrot recipe and just had it for lunch! I'm happy to write that it came out great! I'm really excited about it. It's especially perfect to eat during this hot weather. It's cool, crunchy, and tasty. ;-)
The only thing I'd do differently is hold back on the rosemary. I think I put too much in. ;-) And I followed your comments and didn't put too much sugar or olive oil in it. Oh, btw, I don't have a problem finding rosemary here. It's in abundance at the supermarket.
I used red onions, which I love and they turned white. LOL! But still tasted good.
HI PAZ - 'M SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED THE CARROT RECIPE AND THAT THE DISH TURNED OUT WELL. CRUNCHY & COOL SOUNDS INDEED LIKE A GOOD CHOICE FOR A HOT DAY..

Paz also wrote:
Pille, I had to guess on the measurements. Didn't know what "dl" is. Never seen that before. So, I figured that for example, 3dl water = 1 1/2 Cup water; 1dl orange juice = 1/2 Cup orange juice. Am I right? I had no idea what 0.5dl is. However, all in all the carrot recipe turned out very well.
SORRY ABOUT THE CONFUSION, PAZ,. I'M USING METRIC MEASUREMENTS HERE - A DECILITRE (dl) IS ONE TENTH OF A LITRE. A US CUP ROUGHLY MEASURES 2.5 dl.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh! Decilitre! Thanks, Pille. I learn something new everyday. ;-)

Michèle said...

Hi Pille, i love this recipe, and its no secret that the rosemary had me hooked :) I hope your trip was great, I look forward to hearing about it when you return!

Alanna Kellogg said...

Terve Pille ... missed this somehow awhile back. I lived in Finland for a year and still "cook Finn" quite reguarly. You'll find some Finnish vegetable dishes on my new-veggie-in-a-new-way-EVERY-day-blog and more as the weather cools down. You're living in one of my favorite cities! Alanna PS And I suspect I'll be trying these gorgeous carrots soon too!

Pille said...

You're welcome, Paz! I learn something new every day as well, and reading other blogs is an entertaining as well as educational at the same time:)

Michele - it's a lovely recipe, isn't it! Didn't have a chance to make it at home - was too busy with chantarelle mushrooms and checking out cafes, you see.. But I will make it again soon. My trip was lovely, and I've just posted my first entry about it..

Terve, Alanna! Thanks for stopping by and I'll be checking out your Finnish veggie recipes soon!!!
Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities to live in as well, although I really enjoyed visiting home this time and even began thinking whether it's time to move back. Maybe. Who knows. Time will tell..