Revenge Is a Dish Best Served with Carrots

As the result of a series of slights both real and imagined, my housemate/boyfriend (hi, Mom!) Jack found himself in the position of owing me, big time. We agreed that adequate penance would be for him to cook the, um, three weeks' worth of farm share carrots we had accumulated.

These are the ideas he sent me:

What if we suspend them in orange Jell-O? That would be colorful and texturally engaging! Or I could try out that carrot ketchup recipe I've had my eye on. Or, and I think this might be the winner, we could make a carrot consomme, thicken half of it and heat, chill the other half and layer in shotglasses, and create hot and cold layered rainbow carrot shots.

The reason for the attraction should be obvious.

What I came home to, instead, was a lovely and intricately assembled carrot salad (Epicurious's Burnt Carrots with Goat Cheese, Parsley, Arugula, and Crispy Garlic Chips). Ours was served over farm share mizuna -- one of my favorite salad greens -- instead of arugula.

The second course was a carrot curry: carrots cooked slowly, dressed with curry paste and cream, served over basmati rice and sprinkled with cilantro. The slow cooking was supposed to bring out the carrots' sweetness, and they did become sort of sweet potato-y.

P.S. A Globe piece in today's Somerville section highlights the documentary "Eating Local in Somerville" ... and mentions this blog!