When I think of carrots I normally think of those orange root vegetables. But apparently that wasn’t always the case. Originally carrots were various different colours, including purple ones, which may or may not have come from Afghanistan. By the 17th Century carrots were firmly established in Europe, including in Holland, and came in a variety of colours including red and yellow. And so the story goes that, in order to impress their Royal Family (the House of Orange), some farmers managed successfully to cross and breed orange carrots, which have been the dominant sort of carrot ever since!
All this is a prelude to what I found this morning: yes it looked like there were some heritage carrots in my veg bag this morning as, after scrubbing them thoroughly, I discovered I had purple carrots. Not only were they purple, but they were fantastically sweet, so I decided the best use for them would be in some carrot pate.
Carrot pate
2 large carrots peeled and cut into big chunk
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp harissa paste (or more if you like things more spicy)
½ tsp caraway seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
Put the carrots into a saucepan with water, bring to the boil and cook until done. Drain, and when cooled cut into smaller chunks.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and cook the onions until softened and slightly coloured.
Put the onions and any excess oil into a large bowl, add the harissa paste, cumin, caraway, sugar, salt and the other tbsp of oil. Mix together. Then add the carrots and mix again. Now either mash or blitz the mixture to your preferred texture of pate. It was great with oatcakes, but would probably work well with pita bread too.
2 large carrots peeled and cut into big chunk
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp harissa paste (or more if you like things more spicy)
½ tsp caraway seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
Put the carrots into a saucepan with water, bring to the boil and cook until done. Drain, and when cooled cut into smaller chunks.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and cook the onions until softened and slightly coloured.
Put the onions and any excess oil into a large bowl, add the harissa paste, cumin, caraway, sugar, salt and the other tbsp of oil. Mix together. Then add the carrots and mix again. Now either mash or blitz the mixture to your preferred texture of pate. It was great with oatcakes, but would probably work well with pita bread too.
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