I wasn’t able to visit my mother for Mother’s Day, but of course she was in my thoughts as we all honored our mothers and all that they have done for us.  It only becomes clearer with time how much they have given and continue to give.

I love to cook because one of my favorite memories of my mother is her willingness to come home and try out new recipes and flavors with us, even when she was working full time.  She would come home after sharing lunch with her diverse co-workers and interrupt our usual weekday rotation with novel recipes like salmon hand-rolls and other ideas she would get from her friends.  Before kids, she would even send my dad to work with home-made cream puffs.  We were all lucky.  She does best with what she knows, and what she knows, she does extremely well.  And now dad has decided to join the fun and is starting to experiment in the kitchen, too.  My sisters blame Food Network and Bobby Flay – I think it’s also a way for him to find a new hobby and give my mother a break in the kitchen.

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been a bit swamped, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been in my kitchen.  I simply retreat to simple salads and stir-fries.  And I try to find ways to simplify prep…like in this salad, a version of Ottolenghi’s Spicy Moroccan carrot salad.  I was so excited to find preserved lemon at Trader Joe’s that I had to buy the entire jar to bring home for experimenting (I get excited by little things like this).

I decided to post this today because I have recently been obsessed with rainbow carrots.  Today, I am reminded that as a little girl, my mom would give me carrot sticks to munch on whenever she shredded them for cooking.  And I’d happily snack on them, not simply because she told me ‘they make your eyes bright,’ but because I actually loved the crunchy sweetness.  ::shrug:: I was a weird kid with healthy tastes.

Moroccan-spiced Roasted Carrot Salad (adapted from Ottolenghi’s Spicy Moroccan carrot salad in Plenty)

Ingredients:
1 lb rainbow carrots, cut into 3 inch batons
1-2 tbl olive oil, plus extra to finish
2 shallots, thickly sliced
1/2 tsp honey
salt
pinch ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground coriander
3/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 tbl Meyer lemon juice
1/2 tbl chopped preserved lemon
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped, and extra for garnish
1/4 cup Greek yogurt, chilled

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, toss together carrot batons, ~1 tbl olive oil, shallots, honey, salt to taste, and spices.
3. Transfer spiced carrot mixture and unpeeled garlic onto a lined cookie sheet and roast until carrots are caramelized and tender-crisp, about 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Squeeze roasted garlic out of their skins, smash, and whisk together w/ lemon juice, 1 tbl olive oil, and chopped preserved lemon.
4. Add the roasted carrots to the lemon-garlic mixture and season with salt to taste.
5. Before serving, stir in the cilantro, taste and adjusting the seasoning as needed. Serve with a dollop of the yogurt and drizzle of olive oil as well as cilantro garnish.