Moroccan Spiced Carrot Salad

Are you dreaming of warmer weather, sunshine and long sunny days?

How about a bit of Moroccan spiced salad to cheer you up?

This is an unusual recipe that is quite a favourite of mine because it is easy, tastes great and uses just the right veggies for this time of year...

This recipe uses orange flower water which is very similar to rose water (used in Turkish delights) but tastes like orange! You can find it in Middle Eastern supermarkets and shops (it is sold here in Lund and is not very expensive for a huge bottle). The flavour is pretty strong so go easy when using it with the yoghurt. If you don't like the flavour just skip it!

Here's what you need:

4 large carrots

2 cardamom pods

Black mustard seeds

Ground cumin, ginger and coriander (1/2 teaspoon of each)

Ground ginger (1/2 teaspoon)

Paprika (1 teaspoon)

80mL olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/4 cup currants (use raisins if you can't find currants)

1/2 cup chopped coriander

2 tablespoons pistachio nuts

1 teaspoon of orange flower water

1 cup of thick plain yoghurt

Method (to the madness):

Grate carrots in bowl

Crush cardamom pods and fry dry spices, stir in oil, juices and currants.

Pour over carrot and leave for 30 minutes

Add coriander and pistachios

Add flower water to the yoghurt and serve separately with salad - just put a dollop on the top of your serving and enjoy the new taste sensation!

The Carrot Cake Contains... "No Nuts".

I am hugely loathed to post this recipe (as it always meets with rave reviews) however, for the greater goal of sustainable seasonal food (and because its not really my recipe in the first place) I will overcome my selfish reluctance and share this gem of a cake.

The recipe was originally entitled "Jenny's Carrot Cake" and comes from the excellent Abel and Cole's Seasonal Cook Book. Unusually (for a carroty type cake) the "Jenny" recipe contained "no nuts" however, whilst my own interpretation does use walnut oil, this can be substituted for sunflower or another flavourless oil.

THE Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients:
185g sugar
180ml walnut oil
2 eggs
150g self-raising flour*
75g raisins
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
butter for greasing

Icing Ingredients:
175g cream cheese
175g butter at room temperature
250g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
cinnamon for decoration

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
  
• Grease an 8 inch cake tin ( basically a medium sized tin- loaf or circular) and line with greaseproof paper on the bottom and butter on the sides
  
• Beat sugar, oil and eggs together until a little lighter in colour and well mixed
• Sift the flour and gradually add to the mix, beating all the time.
• Add the baking power, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon.
  
• Add the raisins (lightly coating them in flour first will stop them sinking to the bottom) and the carrots and stir gently until combined.
• Pour into the cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for around 30-40 minutes until a cake skewer comes out clean (use a piece of uncooked spaghetti if you don't own a skewer)
• Let the cake cool before tackling the icing

• Beat the butter and cream cheese until combined (but not for too long or it will become very runny - if this does happen return to the fridge to cool a little).
• Then sieve in the icing sugar and beat until combined well.
  
• Add your vanilla essence and start to spread liberally over the top of your cake.
• Sprinkle about 1 tsp of cinnamon over the cake (which handily disguises any surreptitious lumpy bits in the icing).

(if you have any left-over icing it also tastes particularly brilliant sandwiched between 2 Breton crackers, yum yum)

• Invite over some friends, put the kettle on, dig in!!!

*To make self-raising flour I generally remove 1 tsp of flour per 100g and replace with 1 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt. There are more scientific methods but this seems to work just fine.

Oven baked root vegetables with spice

This is another great and easy recipe from Hanne Holm

INGREDIENTS
3 medium large beetroots (ca 300 g) peeled and cut into small boats
5-6 potatoes (ca 400 g) peeled and cut into small boats
3 carrots (ca 300 g) peeled and cut into sticks
2 parsnips (ca 200 g) peeled and cut into sticks
1 leek in slices
4-5 shallots in boats
4 bay leaves

DRESSING
6 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp dry oregano
3 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

GARNISH
parsley, chopped

COOKING
Prepare all the vegetables and have all ingredients ready.
Mix olive oil with lemon juice, cumin and oregano and add salt to taste. Put a little of the dressing in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Mix the vegetables and the bayleaves onto the dish, pour the rest of the dressing over and turn the veggies carefully so that all are covered in dressing.

Bake in the oven for app. 1 hour on 180°C, or until the vegetables are tender - turn them occationally. Garnish with parsley before serving.

I love to serve a tahini dressing to this as I really think that the rich bitter taste goes well with the sweetness of the baked veggies.
It is also good to sprinkle sesame seeds on the vegetables before putting into the oven.

Red cabbage with pearl barley and apple

Red cabbage is in season right now. It is cheap and healthy - but sometimes I almost find it overwhelmingly big, thinking that I will not be able to eat a whole cabbage head before it goes bad.
That is why I have decided to try and find good recipes for inspiration.

Here is one recipe that I got from Sæson for god smag a website that has a lot of beautiful and interesting recipes, the only downside being that they are in Danish.



For 4 persons you need:

1 dl pearl barley
2 apples, for example Ingrid Marie or Cox Orange
1/2 l finely chopped red cabbage
1 finely chopped red onion
1 dl dried fruit (e.g. raisins, abricots, cranberries)

Dressing
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper

Boil the barley according to package, drain and cool.
Remove the seeds from the apples and cut into boats.
Mix barley, apples, onion and the dried fruit.
Mix the dressing and taste it with salt and pepper before pouring over the salad.

This is a very nice and filling salad.
The recipe is quite large so you can consider halving it if you are not expecting company.