For the love of carrots

Yesterday I fell in love with some carrots. They were seasonal, found in my neighborhood and just gorgeous. While gazing lovingly at these multicoloured beauties, visions of everything I could do with them darted to mind. I simply had to have them! 

One thing to love about Toronto is the abundance of small, family run fruit markets that pop up in just about every neighborhood. It makes it easier to do small, frequent shops for fresh produce. This is preferable to the weekly chain shop where you hope the produce won't go bad by the end of the week. I once bought grapes at Costco and they stayed in my fridge for at least two months with no decomposition before I threw them out. It creeps me out when produce doesn't decompose in a timely manner. I'm lucky enough to have a great selection of fruit shops that try to carry organic and local produce, but the Toronto Farmers’ Market Network has a great list of all the markets in town, here.

Getting back to the carrots, I have to say that the giant purple one was my favorite. It was orange on the inside and grated up into these lovey striped pieces of delicious. I decided to make a colourful cabbage slaw to go with some crabcakes we picked up from the friendly neighbourhood fish man. It was heaven on a plate:

Ingredients:

 1/2 red or white cabbage shredded

 4-5 large carrots grated

 1 small red onion sliced in thin strips

Dressing:

 4 tbsp EV olive oil

 3 tbsp cider vinegar

 3 tbsp sugar

 1 tbsp parsley (more if fresh)

 1 tbsp dijon mustard

 salt and pepper to taste

• Cabbage, carrots and onion go into lrg bowl. Mix dressing together and pour over top. Toss to coat.
• EAT! Carrots are so underrated, one gives you enough vitamin A for the day!

This slaw is healthy and seasonal because it's made with local root vegetables. It keeps well in the fridge, but usually doesn't last long because of how versatile it is. I made some fresh rolls today, wrapping the slaw into rice paper with lettuce and some grilled shrimp... It's going to be great with my boyfriend's famous chicken stew tomorrow... I can also picture it with satay or on the side of a spicy Thai curry... The possibilities are endless...

Happy eating.