Monday 16 August 2010

Tricolour Carrot Tagliatelle with Orange Zest, Coriander Seeds and Scallops

Carrots

This started out as a healthy experiment that worked well in principle but wasn’t quite right taste wise and evolved into a dish I’m really proud of. Inspired by the success of making salsify tagliatelle I thought it would be fun to do something similar with carrots. But whereas the creamy seafood sauce worked wonders with the salsify thanks to the white root vegetable’s oystery taste, my horseradish carbonara was best consigned to the compost bin.

Carrot tagliatelle 3

Carrot tagliatelle

But rather than give up I mulled things over, invested in some multi-coloured carrots and had a look in my Flavour Thesaurus. Prior to peeking inside, I had wondered whether orange and a Middle Eastern spice might work well and was delighted when I stumbled across the fact that Niki Segnit recommends both orange and coriander seeds as two great flavour combinations to throw at carrots. So I thought, what the hell, let’s try both. And then threw some scallops in as well to turn it into a proper meal.

Heritage carrots

Ingredients:

A bunch of peeled, long, multi-coloured carrots
Coriander seeds
2 oranges
4 scallops
Red chilli
Salt
Pepper

Method:

Using a vegetable peeler, cheese slicer or mandolin, shave your carrots into thin strips. Then cut all these carrot strips into tagliatelle width slithers. You’ll be left with a bowl of raw carrot tagliatelle.

Multicoloured carrot

Squeeze the two oranges into a pan and reduce the juice with a tea spoon of honey and some crushed coriander seeds. Add the zest of half an orange and check to see it all taste vibrant. I added a touch of chopped red chilli as well for good measure, but you needn’t if you don’t fancy it.

Then boil the carrots briefly in salted water. And sear your scallops having seasoned them first.

Add the carrots to the sauce and combine. Serve in a bowl. Season. And then add the scallops on top. Then gasp at how beautiful, healthy and delicious this is. It may not be a traditional bowl of pasta. But it’s certainly strikingly different.

Tricolour carrot tagliatelle with scallops

If you've got any thoughts about flavours and sauces that could accompany carrot tagliatelle please let me know...

Further reading (beware it's all a bit health foody):


Griddled salmon with carrot spaghetti

Carrot spaghetti with green pesto
Carrot tagliatelle with almond garlic and brocoli

7 comments:

Seren said...

Well personally, as a member of that very sad species (a foodie on a diet) I am all for health foody articles - and I love the sound of this. Thanks for sharing!

Sx

Paunchos said...

@Seren - That is a very pained species. But essential sometimes when it's cheaper to lose a bit of weight rather than buy a new wardrobe! I've got quite a lot of healthy food in the pipeline.

Hollow Legs said...

It looks lovely. But seriously, dude; you'll wither away if you replace pasta with vegetables.

Jonathan said...

@Lizzie - Thanks for intervening Lizzie. I had a massive curry last night to make up for it.

Unknown said...

but it looks so lovely... cauliflower mash and now carrot pasta... methink we needs our heads examinin'

Jonathan said...

@Dom - All these crazy healthy dishes! I'll cave in soon and drink a litre of duck fat.

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