Farmer-Crush Eradication Program: Step 1

It might say spring on the calendar, but that ain’t no spring out there.  The kids and I spent the better part of an hour at the park this morning freezing our donkeys off.  Until I can break out the spring clothes, I certainly won’t be able to wrap my mind around spring ingredients.

Having all these root vegetable remnants from my winter farmshare doesn’t help matters. They’re just a cold reminder of winter’s icy grip on the season, not to mention the steely vice of forbidden love that has clamped itself around my heart.  So, I’m proud to announce my newly launched Farmer-Crush Eradication Program, a multi-but-less-than-twelve-step process to help you cope with the inevitable heartache brought to you by that special farmer in your life.  You’ll be glad to know that I came up with this myself, with no help at all from my dumb therapist.

Step 1: Eliminate all traces of CSA vegetables in the off-season. 

It’s best to do this right away.  Compost them if you have to.  I, for one, couldn’t bring myself to compost them, so instead there’s been some ill-conceived experimentation in my kitchen.  Things with parsnips that tasted horrifically like vanilla pudding.  Things with turnips and molasses that tasted okay in moderation, but they’re definitely not for everybody.  The Meyer lemon gnocchi in the March issue of Food & Wine actually turned out half-decent.  The recipe had a twist where you pan-fry them after boiling, which lent them an interesting hash-brown quality you don’t usually expect in a pasta.  But, would I make them again?  I don’t know.  Gnocchi always seems too heavy to me, which I never remember until after I’ve made them.

Anyway, I’m down to mostly carrots, now.  I’ll have to eat about a pound a day if I want to get to Step 2 by next week.  And I do, I do.  Step 2 promises to be delicious.

Comments

[Robert]

I knew those carrots would be trouble. Do you have a big freezer? You could always make about thirty gallons of vegetable stock to get you through the rest of the year . . .

[Ann]

Um... but isn't this a little like going into rehab and then straight to a bar once you've gotten clean? I mean... you'll be right back on the Farmer Drug in June, no?

[Tammy]

Ann: Yes, but I'll be going back to the bar a stronger person. (Step 2: Don't listen to Ann)

Robert: Great idea. Carrot stock with a hint of turnip. Want some?

[Susan]

Roast carrots are always popular at our house. Or, what about carrot cake muffins?

Another thing I sometimes make is an Italian side-dish that's almost a savory pudding - it contains cooked carrots, eggs, gorgonzola and walnuts. It's good, though I will admit that with the gorgonzola, a little can go a long way.

I've also read some recipes for Middle Eastern raw carrot salads that sounded pretty interesting. What about an Asian-inspired salad with shaved carrots (veggie peeler), and a dressing of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds? (I'm working on the raw = crunchy = fresh = spring-like train of thought here.)

Any reason not to prep the carrots, parboil them and then freeze them for the summertime no-carrots season? Or, how about the traditional stand by: pickling?

Then again, there is always the feed-the-animals with yummy carrots route....

[Deanna]

I feel like there will soon be an orange-ish hue to your family.

;-D

Beats being a smurf!

I'm all for the carrot pickling idea, Alton Brown has a great HOT carrot pickle recipe.

And seriously, is there EVER enough carrot cake? I think not.

[Tammy]

Deanna: We're orange anyway from the squash. I made one batch of pickled carrots already, but I'm not opposed to making more. As for carrot cake, maybe carrot muffins instead. If I have that frosting on top of all the creme eggs I've been eating, I might give myself a heart attack.

Susan: First of all, stop being so stingy with your ideas. Secondly, will you share the details of that carrot, gorgonzola, walnut dish? Because now I have to have it. Thirdly, Ana Sortun has a carrot salad with pine nuts and fried goat cheese in her book Spice that I might just have to make. Thanks for the reminder.

[Adele]

Hmm. I have no carrot recipes to offer.

But rabbits like carrots. Rabbits taste good.

Buy rabbit, fatten up with carrots, and have braised rabbit stew?

[Tammy]

Adele: BRILLIANCE! I forgot to set traps for the Easter Bunny, BUT Codman Farm has rabbits. I wonder if I could strike a deal with them. (You know I'm not kidding.)

[DocChuck]

My previous point seems to have been further proven, has it not?

My wife (much younger than me, should that excite you) has promised to prepare a toothsome timbale of fresh SPRING vegetables for me this weekend. To accompany a fine grilled spring lamb dish.

It is SPRING, after all, and we are free to enjoy it, unburdened by a root cellar of aged CSA vegetables.

[Tammy]

DocChuck: Ah, but your farmerly ways were no doubt what enabled you to land such a fine, young wife in the first place. One should always remain true to one's roots.

[Susan]

Sure thing!

The recipe's from the book 'Contorni' by Susan Simon. Here's a condensed version:

2 lb carrots, peeled, cut into 0.5 inch pieces
1 t salt
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 lb Gorgonzola dolcelatte cheese
3 eggs
1/2 c coarsely chopped walnuts
2t fresh thyme leaves
1/4 t ground white pepper

(An additional 1T walnuts, and 3-4 sprigs thyme to garnish, if desired.)

Parboil the carrots in salted water for 10 minutes, then drain. Saute carrots with 1 T butter, 3 min or until fork tender, and then mash using potato masher or dinner fork. Preheat oven to 350. Remove crust from gorgonzola. Combine gorgonzola, eggs, and walnuts in food processor and process until smooth. Combine this with carrots, thyme and pepper. Use remaining butter to grease baking dish (pie plate sized). Bake until sides are bubbling and "a golden crust has formed" - about 30 min.

---------------

This is quite good, BUT, when made with standard grocery store gorgonzola, the gorgonzola flavor is nigh overwhelming. I've made it with a milder blue cheese (from what I can tell, more along the lines of what gorgonzola dolcelatte is), and it's quite good. I also usually substitute pecans for walnuts, as well (walnut sensitivity). I could see making this a main course (perhaps toning down the cheese a bit, by substituting a bit of ricotta?), and putting it into a blind-baked crust.

Do you like Ana Sortun's book? I was leafing through it speculatively just the other day....

[Barry Foy]

Wow--is this your lucky day, or what?! I have just the recipe for all those surplus carrots. It's this dessert thing from India...

[melissa]

"freezing our donkeys off."

hehehe.

I'm also anxiously awaiting spring and summer for the produce.

funny you say that about gnocchi. sometimes I'll realize something about a food that puts me off a bit, just one small thing easy to let slide, so then I make it/have it again and say "oh yeah, that's why I stopped making it." like somehow I still manage to romanticize stuff I *mostly* like.

[Eugenia]

I have one, I have one! I HATE carrots. Like more than one should have a reason to do so. I actually have a childhood memory of chewing a raw carrot and not being able to swallow it. Chew, chew, chew, chew. Finally, it was sawdust in my mouth and I had to spit it out. I couldn't SWALLOW it. Any food that makes it impossible to swallow should be outlawed.

But. I came across a carrot recipe that I love. I love it so much that I actually make it by choice and eat it. I've been through five pounds of carrots in the past month. My husband makes fun of me because it looks like baby food, saying goo goo ga ga, but I press on, eating carrots like a baby rabbit with a problem. Check it out:
http://culinariaeugenius.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/pomegranates-market-harissa-for-your-carrots/

[Tammy]

Eugenia: Wow, spoken like a true convert! I guess I need to get my hands on some harissa.

Melissa: I know what you mean. In my case, though, I think it's just that I can never remember anything.

Barry: *dry heaves*

Susan: Thank you for the recipe. I'm chomping at the bit. As for Sortun's cookbook, I've really liked everything I've cooked from there. The braised short ribs in balsamic vinegar and tamarind, and whipped feta with sweet and hot peppers are utterly fantastic.

[Sandicita]

How about carrot-ginger soup? Yum! Or honey-roasted carrots?

[Pam]

Carrot juice. And compost the fiber so no one has to eat the sawdust.