Wednesday, February 17, 2010

season's last carrot harvest



Last weekend I harvested our remaining beets and carrots--lots of carrots. I never thinned them as thoroughly as I've heard one is supposed to, but that didn't seem to bother these 'Purple Haze' and 'Scarlet Nantes' varieties. Not wanting these beauties to sit in the refrigerator, I made a huge pot of carrot-ginger soup and froze half of it.





I also saved a handful for roasting and salads this week. I'll definitely sow these winners (from Botanical Interests) again next September!

17 comments:

Miranda Rommel said...

Color me jealous!
Just today i picked me FIRST carrot. A wee 4 inch scarlett nantes. i planted a whole seed packet and this is the first and seemingly only one that turned into a proper carrot. I see other carrot greens here and there, but beneath them only root.
Wish me luck on a few more morsels coming soon!

Iris said...

Miranda--We are blessed with good soil and my husband has quite a knack with the compost pile. Good luck!

LindaCTG said...

Beautiful and healthy too!

Lynell said...

What a lovely harvest! Lucky you. These photographs are beautiful, Iris! I love them!

Iris said...

Linda--Thanks! It was a very healthy, tasty soup with lots of onions and garlic and Indian spices.

Lynell--Thank you! I had a great subject to photograph, after all.

Kathleen Scott said...

Iris, those are the most beautiful carrots in the world. Don't you wish you had an oil painting of them?

Would you consider sharing your carrot-ginger soup recipe? Sounds perfect for our cool spring.

TexasDeb said...

I'll second the recipe request Iris, but then I think anything made with those beauties would entice. Absolutely gorgeous colors. I feel healthier just looking at the photos.

I have to admit - I like the Botanical Interests packaging so much I have to watch picking out seeds solely for the paintings on the front. Your photo is just as lovely though... Kudos to both you and your husband!

Iris said...

Kathleen and Deb--Thanks so much! I have very few oil paints right now, but I do have acrylics, and I may just have to make a stab at a painting of these beautiful carrots.

I don't remember exactly what I put in the carrot ginger soup and didn't write it down, but the following comprises the main ingredients (I swear I'm going to be better about writing things down as I cook in the future):

lots (several cups?) of sliced carrots
at least one chopped onion
at least a dozen cloves chopped garlic
approx. 1/4 cup chopped ginger (or more)
olive oil and/or butter for sauteeing the above ingredients

vegetable stock
chopped flat-leaf parsley
dried spices to taste: salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, fennel, fenugreek, allspice, cayenne, asafoetida, sugar or honey, juice of a lime or two

handful chopped cilantro (added in the last few minutes of simmering)

Hope that makes some sense!

Diana said...

Wow. Those are just beautiful carrots. Reminds me I need to go check on my beets! I'm sure your soup was delicious - nothing like things straight out of the garden.

Kathleen Scott said...

Thanks Iris! I have a bunch of carrots--nothing so pretty as yours--and it's projected to SNOW tomorrow so I'm forecasting carrot-ginger soup.

PS I know what you mean about writing the recipe down as you go. The thing is, you don't always know it will be s o g o o d that you'll need the details.

Rock rose said...

What interesting colored carrots. Full of goodness I'm sure and carrot ginger soup, one of my favorites.

The Curious Holts said...

Never. Never. Never have I been able to grow one. damn. carrot. WHY, Iris, WHY? I am totally envious. I felt healthy just reading the post.

Iris said...

Diana--Thanks! I must say the soup WAS delicious. Happy I froze half of it!

Kathleen--You're quite welcome!

Lancashire rose--Those carrots are truly unusual in color. I saved some from the soup to eat raw this week.

The Curious Holts--This is my third fall/winter garden, and I've managed to grow some carrots each year, but this year was the best. We are blessed with good soil, which we amend with homemade compost. Perhaps the variety of seeds I chose are more prolific than others?

Ellie said...

Those carrots are amazing! I hope to have such a knack with my veggies next season. And your herbs are inspirational. Thanks so much for sharing. I used some of the oregano last night and it is out of this world!

Iris said...

Ellie--Thanks! And you are quite welcome for the herbs. Happy to hear you liked the oregano!

vertie said...

Dang! Next time you're planting my carrots. I don't think I'll even get one again this year.

Nellie from Beyond My Garden said...

I'm ordering some of those carrots. I hope they will do alright here in the mid ohio valley