Colorful Kaleidoscope Carrots

As you might know, Boston had its snowiest winter ever recorded this year.  (The pile of snow removed from the streets in the South Boston “snow farm” did not melt until after Bastille Day in July!).  That meant I was absolutely desperate to see some sign of spring and was thrilled at the chance to go to the Boston Flower Show in March.  It was like heaven on earth.  Green things! Food for the soul.

One of the booths was Hudson Valley Seed Company, which sells seeds for heirloom variety vegetables.  One of the things I fell for was an art pack of Kaleidoscope Carrots – carrots in a rainbow of colors – purple, yellow, red and white, along with well, carrot orange. Oh, the ambitions one has for the garden while it is still winter.

We planted them in our expanded garden in late May when it was finally safe. They have a 75-day growing season so we should have been able to harvest them in mid to late August, but the few we pulled up (despite their giant green tops) were tiny, so we left them in the ground longer.  We finally harvested them for a dinner party this week. We pretty much had to since we were digging up the garden for the winter. Sadly, with only a few exceptions, they still did not look like the beautiful ideal we hoped for.

The kaleidoscope ideal. Sigh.

(One of the farmers at our local market said this was likely the result of not enough nitrogen and we need to fertilize better next year.) His vegetables are gorgeous so he ought to know.  That and i think we didn’t thin them properly.

None the less they still had gorgeous color, and they tasted lovely – very mellow compared to store-bought carrots. We steamed them in the microwave until crisp-tender and just added a little bit of butter.  Our friends thought they were beautiful – a feast for the eyes and the tummy.

15 Minute Thai Peanut Stirfry

It is finally warming up here (a whole 51 degrees today), and I’m losing my compulsion to cook comfort food.  Tonight I wanted a quick and easy meal that wasn’t too heavy.  The result from a forage in the freezer and cupboards turned up the following:

• 1/3 pound rice noodle sticks  (I got mine from Trader Joe’s but the Asian section of most grocery stores should have them). 
• Grilled chicken breast (1 large breast or about 1  to 1.5 cups cut up) grilled or if frozen, thawed.
• 1/2 a pound of  blanched or thawed stirfry vegetables (again, you can cut your own, or cheat — I had a nice frozen mix with broccoli, carrots, red pepper, water chestnuts, mushrooms and celery. 
• 1 tbsp olive or sesame oil
• 1/2 -3/4 cup peanut sauce (watch the ingredients as they sometimes have trace amounts of gluten)  Mine — from the foo foo store brand section of my local grocery was gluten free and had both fairly low fat and sodium content.)

I was rather hungry and impatient and threw this whole thing together in less than 10 minutes, the longest part is boiling the water.  Cook the noodles al dente (6-8 minutes probably depending the size of the noodles).  While they are cooking, thaw the chicken and vegetables, and start the oil heating in a wok or the largest fry pan you have.  When the oil is very hot, fry up the vegetables and chicken to heat them through and finish the cooking process, 2-4 minutes (longer if they’re raw). Add 2/3 of the peanut sauce and stir fry another minute. Drain the noodles and toss them in the wok, mixing up everything, add the rest of the sauce, and stir. 

Turn off the heat and enjoy. 

Serves two