Any toddler will eat vegetables covered in brown sugar. Michelle, my sister and a new Brooklyn resident, explains this back pocket philosophy as we’re buying carrots at the Park Slope Community Market.
Community Markets is a company that runs eight farmer’s markets in New York City and ten in Westchester and Rockland counties. Like Greenmarkets, they exist to support local agriculture and make fresh produce available to areas with limited access.
Luckily for my sister, my nephew eats vegetables more than any toddler I know. But the brown sugar trick doesn’t hurt once in a while.
Foodie At Large
Name: Sirus Exline Minovi
Age: 3
Lives: Park Slope
Occupation: Pre-school
Buying: Carrots
Other Shopping Bag Items: Kale, green beans, cherry tomatoes, apples, eggplant, beets
Mother’s Favorite Cookbook: The Healthy Baby Meal Planner, by Annabel Karmel
For carrots grown-up style, I like curried carrot soup. Cook minced shallots in olive oil until soft. Add curry and cook another minute. Puree cooked carrots in blender till smooth. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper to the shallots and curry and once warm, blend in the carrots. To serve, top with cilantro and a dollop of yogurt.
Here’s some of what you’ll find this week.
• At Alex’s Tomato Farm, Carlisle, NY: sweet corn, $1 for 3 (Seems a bit late for sweet corn; at any rate, not around for much longer.); squash, $0.79/lb; okra, $2.99/lb; plums and tomatoes, $1.99/lb; tomatillos, $1.79/lb.
• At Alex Farm, Milford, NJ: sweet potatoes, red, yellow and green peppers, $2/lb; cherry tomatoes, $4/pint; celery, $3 ea; beets, radishes, arugula, kale, red Swiss chard and scallions, $2/bunch; cucumbers, $0.75 ea; white, red and Yukon gold potatoes, $1.50/lb.
The Park Slope Community Market is on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street and is open Sundays, 11am – 5pm, from June 4th – November 19th.
For more information about Community Markets
click here.
We are proud of him
I'm a big fan of carrots, but, unlike Sirus, prefer them un-sweetened. I find, though, that whenever I eat cooked carrots, they not only loose their crunch (another carrot-feature I enjoy), but also become very sugary. It sounds like mixing them with curry might temper that a bit, but I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for someone interested in cooking carrots, but leery of eating things sweet and mushy.
The curry definitely helps, as in the curry soup I mentioned. Another way to use up your curry: cut the carrots at a diagonal in 1/2 in. pieces and cook till al dente. Cook a bit of minced shallot and add curry. Stir in yogurt and season will salt and pepper. Add carrots to yogurt mixture and stir. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving. Or you could try grating the carrots raw and adding them to a jicama and orange salad with a cayenne pepper, citrus vinagrette. The pepper should add a nice counterpart to the sweetness of the carrots.