Salt baked carrots, smoked almond, coconut yoghurt & verbena
Ingredients
- Ingredients
1 bunch of carrots with leaves (either multi coloured or traditionally orange)
200g salt
300g plain flour (gluten free is fine)
2 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
150 ml warm water
A small tub of coconut yoghurt
30g smoked almonds
1 tablespoon vegetable extra virgin olive oil
1 jar Belazu Verbena Harissa Paste
Washed leaves from the carrots
Edible herbs or flowers like basil, nasturtium, tarragon, or borage
Preparation
- Preparation
Trim the leafy tops from the carrots and then make the crust. Mix the salt and flour together in a bowl, add the rosemary and oil and stir in the water. Knead by hand or in a standing mixer for a couple of minutes to obtain smooth dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160C
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1cm. Cut rectangles large enough to wrap the dough individually around each vegetable and press the edges together to seal.
Put the dough-wrapped carrots on an oven tray lined with baking paper and bake for 45 minutes until the dough is hard and the veg inside are tender (test with a skewer).
Once the carrots are cooked, slice open the salt crust and leave until cool enough to handle. Discard the crust and use a cloth to rub the skin from the carrots.
For the bases, take one cooked carrot and slice it lengthways into 4 strips about 1/2cm thick, saving any offcuts. Lay each strip slightly off centre of 4 serving plates.
Take the offcuts and the just one of the carrots and blend to a smooth pesto in a food processor with a big teaspoon of coconut yoghurt, the smoked almonds and the olive oil. Add a spoonful of water if the mixture is too thick. Place in a piping bag. Pipe a line of carrot pesto along each carrot strip on the plates.
Slice the remaining carrots into accurate discs 1 cm thick plus a few thinner ones. Stand the discs in descending size order along the strips in the shape of a carrot.
Spoon a little yoghurt and harissa alongside for dipping and finish the plate with the herbs or flowers that you have found or foraged.