Then eat the tops …
Sometimes it takes a stern talking-to from an outspoken friend, to galvanize one into doing what must be done. On a sunny day around the end of July, after a swim and a drink on the deck, my friend S examined my garden while I finished cutting her some kale.
“Miche, you’re killing me!” she said. “Do some weeding. Thin those carrots. Jeez.”
I’ve known S since 1996, when she was a theatre brat hanging out at the Guild in a big white shirt and a dangly scarf. Her wit was quick and bold, and she was not shy about skewering her friends. Though I was often the one skewered, I soon learned that a large and generous heart beat under that big white shirt.
S was right there in those early days when I needed help moving furniture from the dump to my cabin, or a ride to the party, or a shoulder to cry on during a break-up. She roped me into an aerobics class, got me running after I quit smoking, agreed to be my sous-chef making sausages during a cooking demonstration at a fundraiser, and twice accompanied me to a wilderness homestead to cook for 13 people for four days.
Thirty years later, she’s still a theatre brat, still favours a big white shirt, still skewers me regularly and is still right there when I need help or even just the pleasure of her company. She doesn’t get mad when I (consistently) call her P, after another friend whose name is also composed of three syllables ending in a vowel. (To be fair, I regularly call P by S’s name, and she doesn’t get mad either.)
The day after S’s brief but effective lecture, I weeded the garden. I thinned the carrots. I thinned the carrots for hours. I washed vast quantities of carrot tops in several waters, and made carrot top chermoula, pesto and salsa verde, gave chermoula to S, distributed pesto to friends and neighbours and gave out bags of the lacy greens. For now, I am done with carrot tops (but I have a freezer full of goodies for the winter).
Postscript: S liked the chermoula. She found a recipe for chicken tagine online and ran around the stores looking for shelled pistachio nuts. Next day, she thanked me in an email: subject line, “delicious.” You see? It’s worth it to thin the carrots.
Carrot Top Chermoula
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin seed
- 1 1/2 tsp fennel seed
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- 2 cups chopped carrot tops
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine cumin, fennel, coriander and chili flakes in a cast-iron frying pan. Dry-roast over medium heat until aromatic—about 5 minutes. (Be prepared to sneeze: the capsaicin from the heating chili flakes can be pronounced.)
- Grind toasted spices with a mortar and pestle and add to a food processor, along with the chopped herbs and garlic. Pulse several times until the mixture is coarsely ground, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
- Add lemon juice, pulse and then, with the machine running, pour in olive oil in a steady stream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again to make sure you’ve got all the good bits, then taste and add salt. Pulse once more to combine.
- Decant into a bowl with a cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to cook. Will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.
Notes
Salmon Tagine with New Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Olives
Ingredients
- 1 cup chermoula
- 1 lb sockeye or coho salmon filet sliced into four serving pieces
- 8 new potatoes
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 red or yellow pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 16 cherry tomatoes
- A handful of kalamata olives Be bold, leave the pits in the olives for more flavour.
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly-ground pepper
Instructions
- Coat salmon pieces with 1/3 cup of chermoula, cover and marinate in the fridge for about 2 hours. While salmon is marinating, prepare the potatoes. Peel and cut into 3 or 4 bite-sized chunks. Cook in boiling, salted water for about 8 to 10 minutes, to the point they are still al dente, not fully cooked. Drain, cool under running water, drain again and set aside. Heat the olive oil in your cooking vessel over medium heat. Once it’s shimmering, add the salmon, skin side down, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and sear the flesh side for about 1 minute. Remove from the pot to a plate and set aside.Chop the onion and the pepper into pieces around the same size as the potato. Add to the pan, along with a splash of white wine, water or vegetable stock. Cover and cook until softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of liquid as necessary. Add the garlic and potatoes, cover and cook for another 5 minutes, until potatoes are fully cooked. Add tomatoes and olives and the remaining chermoula, then stir, cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until tomatoes have burst their skins. Push the vegetables aside and place the salmon back in the pan. Cover and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, until salmon is fully cooked. Remove from the heat, uncover and allow to sit for a couple of minutes before serving.Serve in wide bowls with lots of bread on the side for mopping up the juices.
