Roasted Carrots with Curry and Pecans
Every year Andy and I get together with another family for a nice dinner party on the back deck at our house in Incline Village. We collaborate on a menu for our guests and make a fuss over the food and wine. The first year, we tricked everyone into eating a fully Paleo meal. Since then, all the guests know it’s a Paleo meal, and no one seems to mind. 🙂 No one misses the bread or the sugar!
Typically, I am in charge of two side dishes, and Andy grills the meat (main course), makes a big salad, and makes his classic Bacon Wrapped Dates.
I have to say, Summer Solstice Party Number Three was a success and for one of my sides, I made and served these carrots.
I used a stevia sweetener called Pyure Sweet in the recipe. Many thanks to the manufacturer for sending me the samples.
Ingredients:
(feeds about 8-10 as a side dish)
1 cup pecans
5 pounds carrots
8 Tbs coconut oil (or butter)
1/4 cup Pyure Sweet
1 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs curry powder
1/2 cup lemon juice
Sea Salt to taste
Cracked black pepper
First, you’ll need to toast the pecans. You can do this in the oven or in a skillet on low heat. Whatever works for you. Just be careful not to burn them. Let them cool once toasted, and give them a rough chop. Set aside.
So, I personally choose the oven to toast my pecans, because it heats up the oven for my carrots that go in next. I have the temp at about 375°F for toasting the pecans. I heat it up to about 400°F when it is carrot roasting time.
Before the carrots go in, you’ll need to clean them up by peeling and cutting them into “french fry” shapes. It’s up to you what size you cut them down, but make sure they are uniform so they will cook evenly. Then, put them on a sheet tray (or two) that’s well oiled/greased (coconut oil or olive oil works best), salt liberally with sea salt, and roast until browned. I would tell you how long to leave them in the oven, but it all depends on how thick you have cut them, so I am leaving that up to you.
While the carrots are roasting away, you can make the curry sauce. Melt 8 Tbs of coconut oil (or butter) together over low heat in a saucepan with 1 Tbs molasses, 1/4 cup of Pyure Sweet stevia blend, 1/2 cup lemon juice, and 1 Tbs curry powder. Make sure all ingredients have combined over the heat (without boiling) and set aside.
Remove the carrots from the oven when they are close to being done. Drizzle the curry sauce over the pan/pans of carrots. Return to the oven and roast an additional 5-10 minutes.
Then the sauce has saturated and cooked into the carrots, remove them from the oven, and sprinkled the toasted pecans over them.
Serve the carrots warm or room temperature. A perfect party side dish and a true crowd-pleaser! 🙂
Latin-Spiced Rooster Potatoes
Have you ever heard of Rooster Potatoes? If you haven’t don’t feel bad. Neither had I.
This all-purpose potato is farmed right here in the US in Edison, California! It starts pink, but bakes golden brown with a light yellow fluffy flesh. You can bake it, boil it, mash it, roast it or fry it.
I was sent a bag of Rooster Potatoes to try, and I came up with this recipe (which was originally enjoyed on Superbowl Sunday as part of a giant buffet with other Mexican/Latin American type dishes). You can also make this recipe with any other variety of potato, and sweet potatoes are especially interesting with this spice combination.
Ingredients:
1 Kg (2.2 pounds) bag of Rooster potatoes
2-3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs adobo seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried parsley
Preheat oven to 375°. Spray a cookie sheet or baking dish with olive oil spray or lightly coat it with olive oil. Cut potatoes into 1 1/2″ inch cubes or bite size pieces. Place potatoes in a medium-sized bowl and then set aside. Combine the adobo seasoning, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garlic powder and dried parsley in a small bowl. Then, drizzle 2 Tbs olive oil (use less or more to your taste/preference) over the potatoes and then sprinkle the seasoning blend over the potatoes to coat them. Place potatoes on the baking sheet. Check on them 15 minutes in and turn them with a spatula to brown evenly. Bake until golden brown.
For other recipe ideas, you can visit the Rooster Potatoes website here.
You can find Albert Bartlett on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.
Recipe: Veggie February, Redwood Goat Milk Cheddar Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
For our first seafood & vegetable dinner this weekend, I made stuffed mushrooms and used three different products I picked up or were sent to me from vendors at the San Francisco Winter Fancy Food Show.
Redwood Hill Farm sent me three different products to taste, and one of them was a goat milk cheddar cheese. I was instantly intrigued because I love cheddar cheese. I had bought a few dozen crimini mushrooms earlier in the week, and needed to use them. So, I thought I could use the cheese somehow to make stuffed mushrooms. Another important element I used was a gluten-free seasoned coating mix from Hodgson Mill I also brought home from the food show. The final result was amazingly good, and I didn’t even use any eggs as a binder. Andy sautĂ©ed some shrimp (a wonderful departure from red meat) and I made a big salad to round out the meal.
My recipe for the stuffed mushrooms is below. I’d like to thank Redwood Hill Farms for the cheese samples and for the coupons for some of their other products that were sent to me.
Stuffed Mushrooms with Redwood Hill Farms Goat Milk Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients:
12 medium to large crimini mushrooms
1 diced onion
2 Tbs crushed garlic
1/3 cup almond meal
1/2 block of Redwood Hill Farms Goat Milk Cheddar Cheese (finely grated)
1/4 cup Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Seasoned Coating Mix
2 Tbs Karoun Dairy Lite Kefir Cheese (Labne)
1 Tbs olive oil or butter
cracked pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 385°F. Remove stems from mushrooms and chop finely. Lightly oil a 13×9 pan and place mushroom caps gill side down on the pan. Roast the mushrooms while you are preparing the stuffing filling (10 minutes once oven has come to temperature.)
Then heat a pan with your oil of choice and sautĂ© the onion with the mushroom stems. You probably won’t need any salt in this dish because the seasoning mix and the cheeses are salty enough on their own. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms have cooked through. At this point, the mushroom caps should be ready to take out of the oven. Remove the caps from the oven and flip them over, allowing them to cool as you prepare the rest of the mushroom filling.
Add the crushed garlic, almond meal and the seasoned coating mix to the mushroom stem/onion mixture and coat evenly. Then add the kefir cheese and stir until well combined. Lastly add about 3/4 of the shredded goat milk cheddar (save 1/4 of it to top the mushrooms once they’ve been filled). Add a little bit of cracked pepper to your mushroom filling and then fill the caps. I find it is easier to pick up the caps and scoop filling into them rather than trying to fill them with a spoon. Then once I have scooped some filling into a cap, I dip it into the extra shredded cheese so that the cheese sticks to the top of the mushroom rather than a bunch of cheese ending up on the pan.
Once you have filled the mushrooms and topped them with cheese, return the pan to the oven and bake at 385°F for about 25 minutes. The cheese will turn a nice golden brown on top and the mushrooms will develop an even more roasted flavor. I was so happy with the way they turned out and I hope you will give them a try!
For some fun cheese and wine pairings, you can go to Redwood Hill Farms’ website here.
You can find Redwood Hill Farms on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.
Parsnip Chips
I know, this plate doesn’t look like much. But please trust me when I tell you it might change your life. It will definitely make you fall in love with parsnips if you are not already.
All you need:
5 or 6 parsnips
Olive oil
Sea salt
Preheat your oven to 355°F.
Slice the parsnips into little “coin” shapes. Arrange them on a baking sheet and douse them liberally with olive oil.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, then flip each one with a spatula. Bake 20-30 more minutes. Some of the parsnips will get really browned and crunchy… some will just get crispy on the edges. It’s a really great texture contrast.
Take them out of the oven when they are browned and crispy and coat them lightly with sea salt. Toss and serve.
Paleo doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. 🙂
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