International Carrot Day
Connect Celebrate International Carrot Day!
Innovative and creative carrot based dishes have been flooding in from across our sites, in celebration of International Carrot Day earlier this week!
Is there anything the carrot can't do? From soups to desserts to roasty side dishes, to main courses and crunchy salads, we received pictures of a whole BUNCH (see what we did there?) of carrot dishes freshly made by our Chefs on site!
Our favourite dish received for International Carrot Day was ‘Vegan Smoked Carrot Lox’. Thanks to its tangy, smoky marinade and salt, the carrot lox has a surprisingly similar taste to smoked salmon. This recipe is fast, simple and makes a great dish for brunch over the weekend!
To make vegan smoked salmon, the best results will come from marinating the carrots for as long as possible, overnight is best, but if you don’t have that much time you will still get delicious results. See below for the full recipe.
Vegan Smoked Carrot Lox
Heat Oven to 180°C/160ºC fan/gas 4
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
Lox Ingredients
4 large carrots, peeled & thinly sliced using a peeler from top to bottom creating long wide strips
1 tsp sea salt
150ml hot water
1 tsp dashi (ground seaweed)
3 tbsp caper brine
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp miso paste (white)
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp capers
Houmous Ingredients
800g chickpeas, drained & washed
1 garlic clove
6 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp cold water
Salt & pepper
Serving Ingredients
8 asparagus spears
3 tbsp olive oil
8 cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, thickly sliced
2 ciabatta
Method
Place the carrots in a pot, cover with salt water and bring to the boil. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until fork tender, but not mushy - the strips must hold their shape.
Transfer to a bowl of ice cold water for 2 minutes to stop them cooking further. Place on a wire rack to dry.
Whisk together the hot water, dashi, caper brine, vinegar, miso, soy sauce, garlic and lemon juice, and add the carrot strips to the marinade. Leave in the fridge for as long as possible, for flavour and texture to develop. Bring back to room temperature before serving.
To make the houmous, whizz all the ingredients into a smooth paste and season with salt and pepper.
Place the asparagus, cherry tomatoes and red onion on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for 15 minutes.
To serve, toast slices of ciabatta, spread with the houmous and place on a serving plate. Place slices of the carrot lox on the ciabatta along with the roasted vegetables and garnish with capers and fresh sprigs of dill. Delicious!
Enjoy!
