Recipe: Cumin-roasted Carrots with Yogurt Sauce

Once a meat‪-‬centric household‪,‬ since Jake has became Produce Manager at The Coop we’ve really learned to enjoy experimenting with the ever-expanding selection of local fruits and vegetables. The growers themselves have been a source of seemingly infinite inspiration, which we’ve bolstered by devouring the writings of our favorite veg-centric chefs.

One chef and writer who has particularly shaped our understanding of produce is Deborah Madison. In her tome, Vegetable Literacy, she provides an outline for unexpected yet harmonious flavor combinations and it has completely changed the way we think about cooking.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s books, Plenty and Plenty More have been another favorite source of inspiration. As we slowly work our way through the recipes – they all look so good, how do you choose?! – we’ve learned to embrace the power of spices thanks to his bold, Middle Eastern-inspired flavors.

For our most recent effort, we reached for one of the few remaining, not-brown, late-late-late winter vegetables. With a multi-colored medley of carrots from Winter Moon Roots as our base, and Madison as our guide, we added depth by sprinkling cumin and coriander over top. For brightness we looked to citrus, which has a long track record of pairing well with carrots, and to bring out some sweetness, we threw everything in a roasting pan with a little local honey. Finally, taking a page from Ottolenghi’s book, we topped it off with a tangy goat yogurt sauce flavored with cumin and lemon.

Not revolutionary flavor combinations, but tried and true… and hard to beat. Served over a bed of greens like arugula or parsley, or on top of a hearty grain like faro or couscous, this is a dish that could easily take center stage in a vegetarian meal. But it would be just as happy as a complementary side dish to a flavorful leg of lamb.

Cumin Roasted Carrots with Yogurt Sauce

1½ pounds carrots, peeled and cut approximately 5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide

Blood-orange dressing:
+ 1 cup blood orange juice (1-2 blood oranges)
+ 1 tablespoon soy sauce
+ 1 tablespoon honey
+ 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
+ 1/2 tsp ground cumin
+ 1/2 tsp ground coriander

Cumin yogurt sauce:
+ 1 cup goat yogurt
+ 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
+ 2 teaspoons ground cumin
+ pinch kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place carrots in a baking dish. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over carrots, tossing to make sure the carrots are completely coated.
3. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until carrots are tender and caramelized.
4. While the carrots are cooking, whisk together the yogurt sauce ingredients.
5. Once cooked, plate the carrots – on their own, with greens or a hearty grain – and drizzle yogurt sauce over top. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe originally appeared on RuralIntelligence.com on March 15, 2015. It's been back-dated here on our blog so that it falls, seasonally, in the right place.   

Recipe: Currant Syrup + Cosmo

Given our particular affinity for berries, we are lucky to have inherited Jake’s grandmother’s home surrounded by raspberry, currant and gooseberry bushes. This year we added to the patch with hearty low and high-bush blueberries, lingonberries, huckleberries and elderberries sourced from Project Native. And now, we’re smack-dab in the middle of high berry season, with perfectly ripe blueberries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries shouting out for our attention.

Most evenings before dinner, we grab a container and go out to mine our precious jewels from their shrubs. Snacking as we go, we never seem to tire of foraging from own backyard. What makes it back inside is often gobbled up that evening as is, by the handful. Occasionally, with a little extra time and energy, we’ll spoon them over biscuits with cream.

No matter how fast we chomp, though, we always get to a point where we cant keep up with the supply and we have to start preserving. One of our favorite ways to prolong our enjoyment is by making syrups. They are a super-quick and incredibly versatile way to stretch the season — and super yummy as a base for cocktails. Here’s our recipe for a simple currant syrup, which is just as good in a currant Cosmo as it is over vanilla ice cream.

Currant Syrup

+ 2 cups currants

+ 2/3 cup water

+ 4 tablespoons sugar

1. Place all of the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil.

2. Once the berries have reached a hard boil, turn down to a gentle simmer and walk away for 30 minutes.

3. Strain the syrup into a jar and, with a spoon, push the remains of the berries through the sieve.

Currant Cosmo

+ 2 oz. vodka

+ 2 oz. currant syrup

+ 1 oz. vermouth

+ juice of one lime

1. Combine ingredients together in a cocktail shaker, shake until cold, and serve with a lime wedge or fresh berries.

Note: This recipe originally appeared on RuralIntelligence.com on July 21, 2014. It's been back-dated here on our blog so that it falls, seasonally, in the right place.

Sunday Dinner: Braised Pork Butt in Milk with Cornbread and Summer Squash & Cherry Tomatoes

We relish our weekends because that's when we get to try out the more elaborate and involved meals we've been dreaming about all week. Since we love to entertain, more often than not these "Sunday Dinners" turn into leisurely (and fairly bacchanalian) evenings with hungry friends.

Whether it's a seasonal vegetable side or a 12-hour roast, we usually start our weekend menu with one particular dish and build the rest of the meal around it by wandering around at the Green Market. On special occasions- or when we think ahead- we'll order a special cut of meat from our friends at Fleisher’s Meats. 

For the first of our Sunday Dinner posts we'd like to share a meal we made for our good friends Christian and Lauren of Material Lust. They came over to our apartment to shoot photos for a feature they are writing about us on one of our favorite blogs, Sacramento Street. 

For the shoot, Jake did a butchering demo and since we don't exactly have enough room to cut up a whole animal in our apartment, he de-boned a pork butt instead (actually the pork shoulder). With our freshly cut butt we decided to make a classic and extremely simple Italian dish- Braised Pork Butt in Milk. Sounds weird, but it's so good. As the butt cooks the fat melts out and mixes with the milk, slowly condensing and curdling into a rich nutty brown gravy. As with any braise, the pork becomes incredibly moist and tender, and it takes on the delicate flavor of the milk.

With that dish in mind, Silka baked a corn bread recipe she's had her eye on for a while and we roasted some yellow summer squash with cherry tomatoes from Migliorelli's. And for a salad, we picked up some luscious greens from Two Guys from Woodbridge. 

Since the meal is pretty heavy and we were all exhausted from a day of shooting and cooking, we topped the meal off with our favorite, Bulleit bourbon on the rocks.

Pork Butt Braised in Milk

Adapted from Marcela Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

+ a 2-3 lbs boneless pork shoulder/butt with cross-hatched skin

+ a quart of milk - non-homogenized or raw if you can get it

+ bay-leaves, peppercorns, juniper berries, and nutmeg (optional)

1. In a heavy cast iron or enamel dutch oven, heat a couple tablespoons each of butter and olive oil over high heat. When the butter stops foaming add the pork, skin side down. When it's browned turn the pork from side to side, a few minutes per side.

2. When the pork is browned on all sides, pour in two cups of milk. If you want you can also throw in a few bay-leaves, 5 whole peppercorns, 5 juniper berries, and some grated nutmeg. 

3. Bring the milk to a simmer then turn the heat to low and cover with the lid slightly ajar. Check the pork every now and then, turning it onto a different side. 

4. After about an hour the milk should be curdled and look like a nutty brown sauce. At this point add another cup of milk and turn the heat to medium-high. Let the milk simmer for 10 minutes then turn the heat back down to low and cover completely. 

5. Let the pork cook for another two hours or so, checking and turning occasionally. You should add more milk if all the liquid boils off.

6. When the pork is tender and falling apart, take it out and place in a glass baking dish or an all-metal pan. Put the pan and pork under the broiler, skin side up, until the skin is crisped golden brown- about 3 minutes. Make sure to watch the pork carefully, as it can burn easily and quickly.

7. Meanwhile bring the sauce left in the dutch oven to a boil, adding a few tablespoons of water. Stir until the water is incorporated and you have a nice gravy.

8. Serve the pork covered in the sauce.

Yellow Summer Squash with Cherry Tomatoes

+ 4 medium sized summer squash or zucchini

+ a pint of cherry tomatoes

+ olive oil

+ salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Slice the summer squash lengthwise about a ¼ in thick. (A mandoline is perfect for this.)

3. Lay the squash down in the baking dish. Don't be afraid to overlap them. Throw the cherry tomatoes on top and drizzle olive oil all over - 1-2 tablespoons. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Bake for an hour, or till the squash is translucent and golden and the cherry tomatoes are puckered and bursting with juice.

Sour Cream Cornbread with Aleppo

From Smitten Kitchen