Carrots in Cream

A food processor makes really short work of the slicing of  'coins' ...

When my son Eric was a fourth grader, his teachers taught a unit on the westward movement - Manifest Destiny and all that. Of course, the kids looked at it as a great adventure because they learned about the covered wagons, homesteaders, making soddies, and the beginnings of the clash between cultures that happened out on the North American prairies. It was pretty sugar-coated for their young minds and sensibilities - the culminating event was a dinner that the teachers had with the children at which basic farm foods - root vegetables, cabbages, chickens, eggs, cornmeal, buffalo were used to make a meal for the kids. My job was to come up with a vegetable dish using carrots ... so I dug around in the 'Little House ' books and found references to Ma's meals for Laura,her sisters and Pa Ingalls. Later, I found that someone had published a cookbook of recipes from the Little House on the Prairie books ...

I have since used the same recipe to make a bowl of carrot coins in a cream sauce every few years for either Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Looking at that little cookbook the other day, I was thinking that many of the recipes reflect much of the current trend in eating local, seasonal, using precious ingredients sparingly and being clever about creating pleasing food aesthetics that make a dish special. Isn't it funny how 'everything old is new again'?

This is an inexpensive and nutritious dish - I'm making it just for that reason. We're having a small roasted chicken and a roasted cauliflower salad with it ... and a baked apple crisp made with seconds from the orchard that is near our home. It's going to be a cozy night in the 'little grey cottage in the woods'. I wish the kids were around to enjoy the sense of nostagia!

Oh, the hazards of evening lighting !

Creamed Carrots

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

3 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced into coins

1 c. chicken broth (vegetable broth might work here, too)

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. flour

¼ c. sour cream or heavy cream

kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Making the Dish:

1. Place the prepared carrots in a 2-quart saucepan.

2. Add the chicken broth and simmer until the carrots are tender crisp.

3. Make a paste of the softened butter and flour and stir in the sour cream or heavy cream to make a smooth slurry.

4. When the carrots are tender crisp, stir the slurry into the mix gently, so as to keep the carrot pieces intact.

5. Let the sauce come to a slow thick bubble. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

6. Turn the heat off and cover them to keep things warm or turn them into a bowl and garnish with whatever is your choice.

Note: This is an easy recipe to increase or decrease ... it also benefits from the addition of parsnip coins ... just saying.