I thought it would be interesting to make a salad with three flavors of carrots. Each color of carrot has a naturally different flavor and I picked different spices or seasonings that influenced me by their colors. This is a very light salad that is healthy and low in fat. Not too spicy but flavorful. Every bite is different because the three carrots have been seasoned differently.

Ingredients

2 Cups Cooked Millet

6 Rainbow Heirloom Carrots (Cut in small bite sized pieces)

About a pound of Heirloom Tomatoes (Cut in small pieces)

2 cloves Garlic (minced)

1 small Hot Pepper (minced I used a Chili de Arbol)

Handful of Korean Leek Tops (minced)

About 2 Tablespoons Fresh Chopped Parsley

Juice from 1 Meyer Lemon

About a Cup of Non-Fat Farmers Cheese

Handful of Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for drizzling)

1/2 teaspoon Yellow Curry

1 tablespoon Date Molasses

good pinch of Saffron

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Prepare your Millet similar to preparing arborio rice or Israeli Cous Cous. Put your millet in pot and toast with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Eyeball (or measure) You need 2 parts water per one part Millet. Add your water and about a teaspoon of Kosher Salt and bring to boil, Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff. Set aside.

Your oven needs to be set at 400 degrees.

Top your cut tomatoes with the minced garlic, hot pepper and Korean Leeks. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Your Heirloom Carrots need to be separated. Either use three small pans or use aluminum foil to make them separate. The Carrots should have been drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Sprinkle the yellow carrots with curry

Pour about a tablespoon of Date Molasses on the red carrots

Add a Good pinch of Saffron to the Orange Carrots

the carrots need about a 1/4 cup of water each and need to be covered with foil.

Put your Covered Pan of Carrots on your middle oven rack.

Put your uncovered tomatoes on your lower oven rack.

After about 1/2 hour your tomatoes should be done. Remove tomatoes and set aside. Season with fresh crushed Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper.

Your carrots should be fork tender. Remove foil and put them back in the oven on your upper rack and let them cook 15 more minutes so they brown up a little bit.

Add your Tomatoes, Carrots, Fresh Meyer and Lemon Juice to the millet and stir. Season with more Fresh Crushed Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste. Top with dabs of Farmers Cheese, Fresh Parsley and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Some substitutions can be made but the end results will differ.

Forking Good!

Kabocha Squash Saffron Sauce

Yummy delicious Chestnuty tasting Kabocha Squash is often paired with brown butter,  sage and Chestnuts in American and Italian Recipes.

I made some very light Kabocha Squash Dumplings and thought of an original really delicious sauce using my leftover squash.

Place your squash on a pan with a little water and cover it with foil.

You roast your squash in a 375 degree oven for somewhere usually between one and two hours depending on it’s size, or until fork tender. Then when the squash is cool enough to handle cut it in half and remove the stringy seeds.

Then scrape out the flesh.

You are left with creamy soft Kabocha Squash.

I removed 1 pound of squash for the dumplings and the leftover I used for my sauce. I didn’t measure it but I’m guessing it was around three cups.

Ingredients

Around 3 cups of cooked soft smooth Kabocha Squash

1 cup of vegetable stock

splash of heavy cream

pinch nutmeg

pinch white ground pepper

pinch saffron.

Directions

Cook in Fry Pan till it reduces to desired consistency.

It was delicious over Kabocha Squash Dumplings

It was the saffron and other delicate spices that really make the squash pop with complimentary flavors that weren’t over powering.

Forking Good!

Bok Choy, Carrots, Lotus Root, with Black Garlic

This side dish is made of some Asian Ingredients in it but really is only mildly Asian scented and just delicious. The Black Garlic doesn’t taste like garlic it’s more of a sweet prune kind of taste. I think what makes the salad pop are the leftover Lotus Root I had. The Lotus Root was already boiled a few minutes in water with some white vinegar and a little salt. Then it was sautéed in a small amount of garlic and a hot chili so it already had a nice flavor and texture that adds interest to this combination. I also added non-traditional roasted pumpkin seeds to this dish. I thought the look and taste went really well with these flavors.

Ingredients

About 5 Baby Bok Choy (cut down the center in 4 -6 wedges)

2 cloves Garlic (minced)

1 small hot chili (minced) either a Thai or Chili de Arbol

A big handful of Korean Leek Tops (already chopped up)

3 different Heirloom Rainbow Carrots (sliced somewhat thin)

about 1/2 a Lotus Root that was leftover from last recipe. (The Lotus was sliced somewhat thin. The root was already boiled a few minutes in water with some white vinegar and a little Kosher Salt. Then sautéed in a little oil with a small amount of garlic and hot chili.)

About 1/2 inch of grated fresh ginger root

2 heads of Black Garlic (just the clean cloves)

2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Splash of Ponzu

Couple Splashes of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 or 4 Splashes of Dry Sherry

A handful of Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

A few Cilantro leaves

Directions

Heat up your fry pan on medium high heat with your Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Hot Chili, and ginger.

When the garlic turns clear looking toss in the Carrots and Korean Leek Tops. They only need a few minutes.

Now add the Ponzu, Sherry, Sugar and Black Garlic and stir and let it cook a few minutes.

Place the Bok Choy on Top and cover with foil and let it steam only a few minutes.

Remove foil add The Already prepared Lotus Root stir and serve with some toasted pumpkin seeds and a small sprinkle of fresh cilantro.

Bok Choy, Carrots, Lotus Root, with Black Garlic

The different textures and taste go together really well. The lotus root really adds interest to this dish.

Forking Good!

Braised Korean Leeks, Lotus Root, Heirloom Carrots and Soft Egg

Ingredients

One Bunch of Korean Leeks

A few Pats Butter

Maybe two Cups of Vegetable Stock

Lotus Root

Some White Vinegar

Fresh Crushed Sea Salt or Kosher Salt

A few Eggs

One Heirloom Carrot

2 Cloves Garlic

1 Thai Chili

A couple Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I like Korean Leeks because they taste more like green garlic and  less dirty than regular leeks.

Korean Leeks

You need to remove the Green Tops and Roots. Save the Green Tops and use like green garlic that’s a little tough.

Braise the Korean Leeks for about 10 minutes on medium heat with either butter or oil and let them brown.

Cover the Korean Leeks with Vegetable Stock, cover with foil and turn the heat to low and let it go about a half hour till soft.

Lotus Root is back in season so I picked up one.

Lotus Root

Last time I made the Lotus Root I made it into tasty chips but this time I thought I’d cook it more traditional that means boiling a few minutes in water with vinegar. First I pealed the Lotus Root and then sliced it somewhat thin.

The Lotus root goes into boiling water with a little salt and a couple splashes of vinegar. The vinegar removes any bitterness the lotus root might have.  Just Boil it a few minutes.

Remove the lotus root and set aside. Since you still have boiling water you can drop in a few eggs and let them go 5-5 1/2 minutes pull out and carefully peal and you will have easy soft cooked eggs.

Next you heat up some oil in a pan and then add your minced garlic and one small minced hot pepper till soft.

Add your Lotus Root and your carrots. They only need a few minutes. Then add your Green Tops from the Korean Leeks and cook that maybe a minute more. Add Fresh Crushed Sea Salt and Black Pepper.  Serve on top of braised Korean Leeks and add your soft cooked Egg and season the egg.

Braised Korean Leeks, Lotus Root, Heirloom Carrots and Soft Egg

Forking Good!