How to use up all those carrots!

Carrots are either in season or almost always available heavily reduced. It is hard to resist a kilo of good food for 20p so here are some ideas for using up all those carrots. This post was written with lots of help from Sarah, Laura, Rachel, Anna, Jacquie, Madeline, Christine, Bróna, Susan and Frances from the less-stuff Facebook group.

Raw:

Sticks to dip in houmous.
Cut out shapes with small biscuit cutters to have stars, moons in your salad.
Carve into flowers.
Ferment – all you need is a jar and some salt.

Grated:

Use in patties or savoury loaves. “Mixed up with left over rice, or some breadcrumbs, or oats/cooked lentils for bulk, bung in some flavouring and an egg to hold it together, bake on a medium setting til it’s browning on top and a skewer comes out clean, leave it to cool a bit in the tin/baking dish and then if feeling brave turn it out and slice it, otherwise just dig in!”
Grated carrot with raisins soaked in orange juice, desiccated coconut and poppy seeds (or other seeds) makes a good filling salad option.
RAC salad – raisins, apples and carrots is delicious with or without dressing.
Mix with chopped red onion, with a nice sharp salad dressing, top with cashew nuts. A good winter salad.

Roasted:

With garlic and ginger.
With honey. “Honey roasted carrots add a rather decadent touch to a meal!”
With squash, chilli and paprika.

Mashed:

Freeze mashed carrots for when you need them later.
Clapshot. Carrots and other root veg, mashed together, and topped with breadcrumbs, cheese and caramelised onions, and baked until golden.
“You can vary it. I’ve used carrot, parsnips, swede, sweet potato, butternut, some leftover savoy cabbages….. Goes nicely with cold meat etc, or baked beans if you like them (I don’t )”
Potato and carrot mash.

Soups:

Carrot and coriander soup. “I sautéed them first, so they’re a bit caramelised.”
“Carrot & ginger (with or without lentils) and carrot & coriander are two of my staple soup options, also nice is carrot with coconut cream and a bit of thai red curry paste (works well with pumpkin too).”