Maple-roasted carrots, chickpeas and lettuce
with whipped herby chickpeas....on squeezing the most from pantry staples
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. ‘ Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
My book Tenderheart is available from Books are Magic, Kitchen, Arts and Letters, Book Larder, Bold Fork Books and also here or here.
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My mother is obsessed with grocery prices. When she still traveled, she spent a lot of her vacation time checking out supermarkets and comparing prices with those back home. During our weekly FaceTime sessions, I am often cooking dinner and she insists on knowing the price of all the ingredients I am preparing.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. During my three day visit to London last week, when my schedule was jam-packed with eating, visiting bookstores, catching up with old friends, I made sure to visit a supermarket or two. My intention was to pick up some favourite British snacks for my kids - Percy Pigs, Hula Hoops, Jaffa Cakes etc - but while there, I happened to catch the price of a few grocery items. A can of chickpeas for 35p, a bag of carrots for 60p, and a bag of two very attracting looking gem lettuces for £1. I was so surprised by these inexpensive prices, I took photos of them. Yes, I do things like that!
Later that day, I went to dinner with some of my dearest mates from my former life as a beauty PR. We had an uproarious time as we reminisced about the characters and excesses of beauty and fashion PR in London during the early 2000s. These were good times, often unhinged and frequently debauched, but we emerged with our sense of humour, hilarious memories and lifelong friendships. At the end of dinner, I mentioned how I was surprised by the cost of groceries in London and pulled out the photos I had taken earlier at Sainsbury’s. I asserted that we would never see such low prices in New York (at least, not where I live which I admit is not the cheapest area in the city). They were surprised by my surprise. This led to another hearty discussion, this time about the cost of living and the merits of ‘bougie’ chickpeas versus cheaper ones (I’m team cheap chickpeas, all the way!).
Since returning to New York, back to the land of $8-per-dozen-eggs, I have been thinking a lot about the cost of groceries and how expensive it can be to cook for ourselves, our friends and our families. These thoughts led me to this week’s recipe, a creation based upon my bargain London finds - chickpeas, carrots and lettuce. While these ingredients are not as cheap here in New York, they are still economical and easily accessible. Chickpeas and carrots are two ingredients I pair often, such as in my olive oil braised carrot and chickpeas in Tenderheart and this Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas With Herby Cashew Cream. In this week’s recipe, I take 2 cans of chickpeas - one is pureed with herbs into an airy whippy dip (the aquafaba, or the bean soaking liquid, is the magic ingredient that adds body and lightness), while the other can is roasted with a bag of carrots. A drizzle of maple syrup or honey brings a sweet hum that contrasts well with the earthy chickpeas. A spice such as cumin will add warmth and depth, but use whatever you have on hand – coriander, fennel or turmeric (use a bit less), or a spice blend like harissa would work well too.
For those who have not tried cooked lettuce yet, you are in for a treat. Stir fried or braised lettuce is a childhood favourite, a staple in Cantonese cooking. Roasting, as I have done in this recipe, adds charred edges with leaves that remain crisp.
This week’s recipe is dedicated to Narmin, Rachel, Bianca, Melly, Sarah and Emma, who surely do not read this newsletter but this recipe is nevertheless for you all.
What to eat this week: here are more cheap and cheerful suggestions. All NYT Cooking recipes have gift links:
Monday: Lemony pearl barley soup
Tuesday: Crunchy Noodle and Tofu Salad
Wednesday: Soy-butter corn ramen
Thursday: Easy brown rice salad with feta and a quick pickled dressing
Friday: Gnocchi broccoli tray bake with lemon and cheese
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
Maple-roasted carrots, chickpeas and lettuce with whipped chickpeas
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love.
Only have 1 can of chickpeas? Skip the whipped chickpeas and serve on top of Greek yoghurt (you could season your yoghurt with grated garlic, lemon, spices, salt and pepper).
Serves 4 to 6
450g (1 pound) carrots, trimmed
1 15-ounce/425g can chickpeas, drained
1 small red onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin wedges
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds or ground cumin
sea salt and black pepper
1 small romaine/cos lettuce or 2 baby gem lettuces (about 350g / 12-ounces total weight), trimmed
chopped soft herbs such as dill, parsley, mint or cilantro, for serving
Whipped herby chickpeas
1 x 15-ounce/425g can chickpeas
1/2 cup (30g) soft herbs such as dill, parsley, mint or cilantro
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds or ground cumin
1 tablespoon lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
sea salt and black pepper
Heat the oven to 220˚C / 425˚F. If your carrots have thick skins, peel them. If you have baby or dutch carrots, just scrub them, without peeling. Cut them into similar-sized pieces, about 10cm / 4 inches long and 2cm / 3/4-inch thick.
Place the carrots, chickpeas and red onion on a baking sheet and drizzle over the 1 tablespoon maple syrup and olive oil. Add the cumin and season generously with salt and black pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Roast until the carrots are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, drizzle over the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and toss to combine.
Increase oven temperature to 230˚C / 450˚F (for the lettuce).
Halve the lettuce lengthwise through the core and cut into 5cm / 2-inch chunks. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Roast until the lettuce has softened and charred on top, 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make whipped herby chickpeas: drain the chickpeas and reserve the aquafaba (bean soaking liquid). Place the chickpeas into a blender or small food processor (I use my Nutribullet) along with 1/2 cup of the aquafaba, herbs, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and season with about 1 teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper.
To serve, dollop the whipped chickpeas onto a large serving plate and spread it out to cover the surface. Arrange the lettuce on top, followed by the carrots and chickpeas. Season with sea salt and black pepper and scatter over the herbs.
Made this tonight for dinner. Delicious. If you have homemade hummus lying around like I usually do, you can skip the herby creamy chickpeas bit of the recipe. Still added lots of dill and parsley on top. Also included sticks of tempeh same size as the carrots, to make it a bigger, more filling meal...
The cost of groceries that are uber cheap is paid by the environment and the farmers growing the food!! Nearly all of the food we find in supermarkets, like those dirt cheap carrots, are grown with artificial fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides that are causing utter destruction to the land :( not everyone can afford to but if you can please buy organic !!!