Pot herbs part two

[fabrisse]

We have our onion cooking in oil. We've decided whether to add ginger or garlic or both or neither. What next?

Bay leaf: If it's a European recipe, I add Bay Leaf. I love the flavor, and it complements every other herb I can think of.

Carrots. I buy the already peeled baby ones. If I have to peel the damn things, they stay in the refrigerator until they become either a) a contemporary still-life in ice or b) a voting republic. Neither is good for the carrots or the refrigerator.

The older I get the more I find carrots necessary to cooking. They add color, salt, some sweet, and, depending on when they're added, can either add texture and crispness or act as a thickening agent. The latter is important to me. I won't add cornstarch or flour. I will when making carbonade flammande add ginger snaps, but in general my stews go unthickened. nb: as siderea reminded me below, I need to make it specific. The carrots should be cut. I usually do quarters, lengthwise to make little matchsticks. If you're wanting to thicken it, then a quarter inch dice is what you need.

I'll throw in fresh parsley at this point if I'm making soup or stew, but, frankly, for everything else it gets chopped up and added after the cooking.

If I'm working with fish or chicken, and I have it handy, I add celery leaves. (I love my Safeway for selling celery by the stalk. I can get the really leafy ones and don't have to worry about throwing away all the stringy tough bits.)

All of this is now cooking in our pan. What are we making? Suggestions?

Comments

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

*giggles while picturing fridge carrot nation coming up with an anthem* ;)

My stews(always beef) tend to get thickened by the potatoes I put in there, which is why I started to use baby whites instead of russets. Duh. ;)

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

You'd like carbonnade flammande. It's a beef and onion stew. No potatoes, though.

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmm. Beef and onion. Yummy.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Cassoulet?

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I promise to give you my cassoulet recipe before the end of my six months of posts. This is still just the basics.

[siderea]

Carrots. I buy the already peeled baby ones. If I have to peel the damn things, they stay in the refrigerator until they become either a) a contemporary still-life in ice or b) a voting republic.

*BWAHAHAHAH* LIBERTÉ! ÉGALITÉ! BETA CAROTENE!

So going in my quotes file.

All of this is now cooking in our pan.

Back up for those of us on the cooking short bus: are we sautéing these in oil, or is there some sort of liquid we're simmering these in, or what? I mean, I'm visualizing a large frying pan with the chopped onion, a bay leaf, maybe some sliced ginger or crushed/sliced garlic, a handful or two of pealed baby carrots, and some green leafies all sitting in a thin layer of olive oil. The onions have already expressed some juice because they got there first and do that quickly; the carrots are slowly joining in. Otherwise there's no fluid/sauce yet, and one has to keep stirring to coat the bulkier bits and transmit the heat evenly. Am I on the same page?

I'm struck that in my very meagre cooking knowledge the carrots aren't going to cook very much in this scenario as described because they're much bulkier than everything else, which will burn before the carrots get enough calories of heat to soften.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

See, this is why comments are useful. I will be amending the above to point out that the carrots should be at the very least quartered (which with the baby carrots looks a bit like a julienne). Other than that you're right. We have the beginnings of something.