Lucky dip - a recipe

BABY CARROT TAGINE WITH YOGHURT AND HONEYED PINE NUTS

This recipe comes from New Feast by Greg and Lucy Malouf. I bought it around Christmas time and have already written about it on a previous post. It's a beautiful book. And I have to say that when I read through it this is one of the recipes which most attracted me. So it was a bit serendipitous when my lucky dip page turned out to be this very recipe. Also serendipitous is that Coles has packets of baby carrots on special at the moment, and I have been thinking quite a bit of late of being more vegetarian. Sometimes I have to wonder if there is something out there directing my every move, or maybe reading my mind.

I'm not sure that I will be able to say a lot about this but let's try. First I will give you the recipe. I could just direct you to it but I have chosen to copy it out in full because there are a few tiny things worthy of comment I think.

Ingredients

40 ml (1 1/4 fl oz) olive oil

a generous knob of butter

1 large onion, finely grated

1 large carrot, finely grated

2 cloves garlic, finely grated

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon honey

400 g (14 oz) tin chickpeas, well rinsed and drained

400 g (14 oz) baby (or Dutch-style) carrots, with tops attached

600 ml (21 fl oz) vegetable stock

200 g (7 oz) natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)

1 egg yolk

1/3 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves

Honeyed pine nuts

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon honey

60 g (2 1/4 oz) pine nuts

good pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).

Heat the oil and butter in a large flame-proof casserole. Add the grated onion and carrot, the garlic, spices and honey. Sauté over a low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent and the carrot is meltingly soft.

Add the chickpeas and whole baby carrots, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the tagine from oven and transfer it to the stovetop over a medium heat.

In a small bowl, whisk the yoghurt with the cornflour and egg yolk. Add a big spoonful of the tagine cooking liquid to the yoghurt and stir it in well. Tip the yoghurt into the tagine, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens slightly.

Heat the butter and honey over a medium heat in a small frying pan. When the butter has melted, add the pine nuts and salt and fry for around 2 minutes until they turn golden brown.

Stir the coriander leaves into the tagine. Drain the pine nuts and sprinkle on top of the tagine as you serve it.

First of all it is nutritious - chick peas, yoghurt, the carrots themselves being the main nutritious components - and I guess they cover most of the bases - plus there's a fair bit of fresh coriander and the honey and the pine nuts of course. Also quite filling I would think. And doesn't it look beautiful? Sort of monochromatic but not quite. Subtle and soothing.

It's the kind of recipe that I love because of the little twists - the honeyed pine nuts, the fact that the yoghurt is added at the end, the egg yolk to thicken the sauce - a cheffy touch that one. The spices are not that unusual but they are not too dominant either. And interestingly to me - no lemon. But then I guess that tartness is provided by the yoghurt. This is how Greg Malouf describes it:

"The unusual subtle sweet and spicy carrot tagine is made, wonderfull rich and tangy with the last minute addition of yoghurt."

Brief but inviting I think. And he recommends serving it as part of a sharing feast - with various other tantalising dishes such as - plain buttered couscous, Wedding Couscous, Mixed spring greens with golden raisins and couscous (alas no picture) or Long grain rice with lemon and toasted almonds.

And isn't it nice that he uses a tin of chick peas rather than making you feel bad for using a tin when you have been directed to start from scratch.?

And just one more small thing to say - or wonder. Why are Dutch carrots called Dutch carrots? I found an explanation which suggested it was because it was the Dutch who produced the first orange carrots - the originals were yellow and purple. But I don't think that really answers the question, and I have to say that in England they don't call any carrots Dutch carrots. They are just carrots or baby carrots. Here in Australia Dutch carrots are the small baby ones you buy in bunches still with their tops on. So I don't think I have a satisfactory answer to this question. If anyone does, please let me know.

So I guess this is a pretty bland little post really. What do I get out of it? That I should eat more Greg Malouf dishes, that I should eat more vegetarian dishes, and that honey can be used for so much more than putting on toast for your breakfast. Basically I should try harder to cook something different. My cooking something different every week resolution from last year has basically been abandoned so far this year - mostly because of everything leading up to the wedding I guess. I should reinstate it and maybe I should start with this. Or invite all my vegetarian friends around for a New Feast.