Recipes: Three spring dishes that make good use of carrots

Spiced orange-glazed carrots with sherry, Roasted carrot, pumpkin seed and feta cheese salad, Carrot cake

Whether or not eating carrots really does make you able to see in the dark I don’t know, but what I do know is that carrots are a constant ingredient in my larder, and cooking would be much the poorer without them. The three recipes today demonstrate their usefulness – one is for carrots as an accompaniment to a chicken, meat or fish main course. Another is for roasted carrots, cooled and used in a salad. And the third is for carrot cake. Now, my carrot cake recipe is the very best I have ever eaten and I claim no credit for its deliciousness, because this recipe was given to me over 40 years ago by a great friend, Caroline Wood.

When I ate organic carrots for the first time, years ago, I realised that they tasted different, better than the non-organic variety. With many organic foods one can’t generally taste the difference, but you certainly can, and do, with carrots.

Spiced orange-glazed carrots with sherry

SERVES 6

1 onion, skinned, halved, finely diced

3oz/85g butter

1½ lb/675g carrots, peeled and trimmed at either end and, if they are small, left whole, or if large, sliced into little finger-thick julienne strips

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar or in a deep bowl using the end of a rolling pin

½ pint/285ml water

1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

2 bay leaves

finely grated rind and juice of 1 orange – well washed and dried before grating and squeezing, to remove any preservative

2 tablespoons medium dry sherry

small bunch of finely chopped parsley

Melt the butter in a wide-based saucepan and, over moderate heat, fry the diced onion for 3-4 minutes, stirring to make sure it cooks evenly. Then add the prepared carrots and the bashed cumin seeds to the pan, stir well to mix the butter and fried onions thoroughly through the carrots, and cook, stirring from time to time, for about 5 minutes. Then pour in the water, and stir in the salt, pepper, bay leaves, grated orange rind and juice. Cover the pan with its lid and cook it over gentle to moderate heat, so that the liquid simmers gently within, until the carrots are tender, about 10 minutes. Stick a fork in a piece of carrot to test. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sherry. Just before serving, carefully – so as not to break up the cooked carrots – stir the parsley through the carrots.

Roasted carrot, pumpkin seed and feta cheese salad

This is delicious – the sweetness of the roasted carrots complements the slightly salty taste of the feta, and the splash of balsamic cuts the richness of the overall flavour. This makes a good first course, or it can be eaten as a salad to accompany cold ham. The dressing is the flavoured oil in which the carrots roast.

Serves 6

1½ lb/675g carrots, peeled and trimmed at either end and cut into chunks on the diagonal, about 2in/5cm in size

1 fat clove of garlic, skinned and sliced finely

2oz/55g pumpkin seeds

4 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

6oz/170g feta, crumbled

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Put a sheet of baking parchment onto a roasting tin – this makes the washing-up so much easier afterwards – and spread the chunks of carrots onto this. Add the finely sliced garlic, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, salt and black pepper, and, with your hands, mix all together thoroughly so that each bit of carrots is smeared with olive oil. Spread the carrots out to an even layer over the entire roasting tin, and roast in a hot oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 for 20 minutes. Then take the roasting tin from the oven and shuffle the contents around, moving the carrots from the centre to the outer edges and then spread them evenly once more and continue to roast the carrots for a further 20-25 minutes, or until they are just turning colour and are soft when stuck with a fork. When roasted, tip the carrots etc into a serving bowl and add the crumbled feta while the carrots are still hot – that way the flavours mingle so much better than when cold. At this point, also, mix in the balsamic vinegar. When cooled, scatter the finely chopped parsley over – this is both for a garnish of colour contrast, but also for the flavour of the parsley, too.

Carrot cake

Best made the day before it is needed, this cake freezes very well without its icing and filling. It is quite a gooey cake, which makes it luscious to eat and as such it can be served as a pud at the end of lunch or dinner, as well as being delicious eaten with a cup of tea or coffee.

½ pint/285ml sunflower oil

12oz/340g caster sugar

3 large eggs

6oz/170g plain flour sieved with

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 pinches of salt and

1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon

8oz/225g grated raw carrots – weighed when grated

For the filling and icing;

6oz/170g soft butter

6oz/170g cream cheese, such as Philadelphia – but don’t use a low-fat version for this, it makes the icing too sloppy

8oz/225g sieved icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Measure the oil into a large bowl and whisk – I use a handheld electric whisk – gradually adding the caster sugar. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and beating well between each. Then fold in the sieved flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, and then, lastly, the grated carrots, mixing all thoroughly.

Line a non-stick cake tin measuring about 9in/22cm diameter with a disc of baking parchment, and pour and scrape the carrot mixture into the prepared cake tin. Smooth the surface even, and bake in a moderate heat, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 45 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3 and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Take the cake out of the oven and cool for 10 minutes – a sugary crust tends to form on the surface – then turn it onto a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely. Carefully peel the parchment disc from its base, now uppermost. When cold, use a serrated knife to cut the cake in half widthways.

To make the filling and icing, put the soft butter and cream cheese into a bowl and beat well, gradually adding the sieved icing sugar. Lastly, beat in the vanilla extract.

Put one half of the carrot cake onto a serving plate, spread with some of the filling, cover with the remaining cake half and spread the remainder of the icing over the surface of the cake.

I don’t think any further garnish is needed.

• TOP TIP: Carrots are good for you whether you eat them cooked or raw, but interestingly, cooking them actually makes it easier for your body to use the nutrients, including alpha and beta-carotene

• Claire Macdonald will be giving a cookery demonstration on Wednesday 28 March at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. Tickets cost £22.50 including canapés, wine and entry into a gastro raffle. For tickets, tel: [phone]

click here to visit www.edencourt.co.uk