Teczcape-An Escape to Food

These organic rainbow carrots are so attractive and I was instantly drawn to them. Though carrots are available all-year round, fall/autumn is supposedly, or officially, carrots season.

Before roasting

Other than the regular orange carrot we all know, there are also purple and yellow carrots in this organic rainbow bag (available in my local Sprouts Farmer's Market @$1.99/2-lbs bag). Rainbow carrots is a breed of heirloom carrots naturally created from heirloom yellow and purple carrot seeds, and known to be sweeter than regular orange carrots.

Roasting, with a light drizzle of olive oil, came to mind when it came to meal preparation. Not only it is a quick and easy way to make available the fat-soluble beta-carotene and polyphenols in carrots, the roasting process also concentrates the sugars and brings out the natural sweetness.

At almost the same time August last year, there was a variety of tomato plants and vegetables e.g. kale and Swiss chard growing in our backyard. After a year, some minor changes have taken place and this is the current garden update.

Due to the lack of full sun for long duration especially at the raised bed location, we have cut down on the growing of leafy green vegetables this year, and shifted our growing efforts to container gardening: fruits such as blueberries and pomegranates, vegetable/fruits e.g. watercress, different types of chili, and herbs such as basil, rosemary and thyme.

Herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme

These basil, rosemary, thyme are not grown from seeds, but bought as potted herbs from the nursery. They have survived and flourished. Herbs such as basil and rosemary have also been propagated successfully via stem cuttings.

For all of our chili plants, we have caged them as what you would do to a tomato plant, and have netted around the cage to prevent birds from eating the chili. The use of a reflective pinwheel also works to minimize pests and to prevent birds from eating the chili.

Thai Dragon Chili - bought as a plant from the nursery without fruits. It is now fruiting nicely and some chili have turned red with time.

Dragon Chili

These two ingredients actually landed unexpectedly in my kitchen. 5lb carrots and thyme.


5lb of organic carrots because it was on-sale for just $2.99 and thyme because it was growing (...and growing) in the garden.

Initially, I had some reservations about the quantity of carrots I bought. However after looking it up that carrots store well in the refrigerator (can be up to 3 months! Yay!) and they actually produce more Vitamin A as they store, those worries were gone.


Roasted Carrots with Thyme 百里香红萝卜
Slice the carrots thinly, drizzle and coat with olive oil, toss with finely chopped thyme, season with salt and ground black pepper, then roast in oven (375F for about 30-40mins) till they are cooked.


If you prefer a more robust flavor, you can toss in some finely minced garlic once the carrots are removed from the oven. The heat from the carrots will soften and mellow the garlic.

The sweetness of the carrots is being accentuated in the roasting process (which gets rid of the moisture at the same time) - a perfect side dish anytime, especially for the holidays.

Sharing this with Hearth and Soul.

Tag: carrots, thyme, roasted carrots

I look for simple (really simple) ideas when I go "blog-visiting". The Spanish -Style Baked Shrimps was one such example. Minimal is the key. Basic (minimal) ingredients, minimal prep. and minimal supervision during cooking. Plus, that "it-looks-darn-delicious-and-I-know-it-is" appeal. Also Steamed Singua - my vegetarian adaptation of another meat dish; and learning easy new techniques such as pulverizing the winter melon. Thanks, my blogger friends out there.


Often, these simple ideas serve as reminders too. When I saw this Rosemary Thyme Garlic Roast Chicken at Pig Pigs Corner, it kinda reminded me to make roast chicken...again. I have made roast chicken before, but not this way, not with this combination of herbs and aromatics.


So I got myself some organic chicken drumsticks, make a few slits on the thickest part of the chicken, prepare the dressing of herbs, aromatics, olive oil and honey. As I have a few varieties of honey at home - it's drizzle of clover honey with some Organic Wild Forest Raw Honey  - playing with the depth of sweetness in the savory of the roast chicken.


How many chicken drumsticks (of such size) can you eat as a serving? 


I can definitely do more than one. :D

Tag: roast chicken, herbs