Warm Organic Carrots with Puy Lentils and Summer Savoury
My garden has been fruitful this summer. I have now harvested all my carrots, beetroot, spinach, mulberries, radishes, broad beans and peas. The courgettes, onions, garlic and raspberries are still going wild with a fantastic yield. The peppers, borlotti beans and aubergines are starting to show signs of fruits and I’m waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. With four different varieties of tomatoes on the go I should start to think hard and fast of 365 recipes to take advantage of all the tomatoes.
All in all, a fruitful organic garden feast. A few weeks ago I was tempted to break the rules and use a spray to kill the pest as I could not bear watching the caterpillars and ants destroying my crop. My strawberries suffered and so did my calvonero, ants made their home in half of my broad beans and I was nearly in tears as a slug had nibbled right through one of my courgette plants. After a struggle and a near divorce Mr.P won the battle as I decided not to spray.
I have experienced a roller coaster of emotions this year regarding my garden, I went all soft and gooey inside when I pulled the carrots from the soil. All different shapes and sizes, some misshaped, some really tiny and small but that’s alright because they are my carrots and they deserve a lovely recipe created just for them! Hence this very special warm organic carrots with puy lentils and summer savoury. I added some toasted pumpkin seeds and pecan nuts for texture and made a delicious warm dressing with fresh orange, ginger, honey and onion seeds.
This dish is perfect to enjoy as a side with roast chicken or on it’s own as a warm salad. Once we had enjoyed this delicious dish I was pleased that I did not give in to temptation to spray pesticide on my vegetables.
Honey Nuts
- 1tbs olive oil
- 20g pecan nuts
- 15g sunflower seeds
- 15g pumpkin seeds
- 2tbs honey
Heat a medium non-stick frying pan, add the oil, pecan nuts and seeds.
Toast the seeds and nuts until hey start to take on a golden colour, reduce the heat and add the honey, stir continuously to prevent the nuts from burning.
Once you are happy with the colour transfer the honey nuts to a lined baking tray to cool them rapidly, set aside.
Organic Carrot and Puy Lentils
- 400g organic small carrots or Chantenay carrots will work well
- 100g cooked puy lentils
- 1 orange pepper
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1tbs chopped summer savoury
- 1tbs honey
- 1tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 5g fresh grated ginger
- Juice and zest of half a orange
- 1tbs soy sauce
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Nigella seeds or black onion or kalonji seeds
Wash the carrots, remove the green leaves but leave the long root, it looks pretty.Blanch the carrots in boiling salted water until tender, refresh in ice cold water.
Wash the pepper, cut in half, remove the seeds and cut the pepper into long strips.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan add the oil, and on a moderate heat saute the sliced peppers, crushed garlic and blanched carrots for 3 to 4 minutes,season as required, add the drained cooked puy lentils and cook further for another 2 minutes.
Add the honey, juice and zest of orange, soy sauce and ginger, cook for a few minutes until the liquid thickens and starts to coat the carrots,this should not take longer than 2 minutes.
Transfer the cooked carrots to a serving dish, fold in the nigella seeds, toasted honey nuts and chopped summer savoury and serve.
Serves 4
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Didn’t have enough carrots in the garden, so made this recipe with beetroot–leaving out the peppers. I precooked the beetroot, and then cubed it. I also didn’t have much summer savoury, so used parsely and marjoram for the herbs. Took it to a party and had scads of compliments–everyone asking for the recipe.
Eleanor,Your a star!
Well done for using the recipes just as I intended it to be used!
Fantastic substitute and I hope that you did share the recipe with your friends.
Keep on reading and I hope that the British Larder will continue to inspire you to cook fantastic dishes such as this one.
Regards
Madalene
Hi
This one is going on to the corporate buffet menu ( vegetarian Corner)
Thks for the creative idea…
Reading this post brought back all the memories of my first harvest over the summer (your winter) this year. It almost brought me to tears thinking of your carrots. I was just the same https://www.domestic-executive.com/garden-blogging/the-orange-of-life-can-you-tell-what-it-is/ ! I remember the first thing I took from the potager like it was yesterday. I’m sorry to say the hair hasn’t improved that much either
https://www.domestic-executive.com/garden-blogging/mad-hair-and-laughter/
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I am so looking forward to planting my seeds out.
Oh, almost forgot – getting lentils here in NZ is very hard. Don’t know why but it’s a real struggle to get them and after 3.5 years still haven’t found any Puy Lentils which is a draw back for one of my favourite Nigel Slater soups!