Our first truck was a ’47 Ford 1 Ton. Dark green with gold detailing, and very much a work truck. In the early eighties, with my hair in braids, wearing a down vest, and gum boots, I loved being the one that would go to town to pick up supplies, whether it was feed or fence posts. Even though the truck was 9 years my senior, we were good friends. It could hold so much, and anytime I pulled into a yard the staff was excited to see the truck; consequently I always got speedy service.

There was an inherently farm feel about picking up 50# burlap sacks of potatoes, onions and carrots for us, while 50# sacks of barley and oats were thrown in for the horses and pigs. These sacks of vegetables would sit in the cold room in our barn, and feed us through the winter (this sounds like the olden days, but really it was the eighties). They were the mainstay of our diet, supplemented with our own meat & squash, and winter hardy greens from the farmers market. Some of the carrots where oddly shaped, resembling the human form in many variations. Some would make us blush, while others would have us laughing outright.

Eating the same veg day after day, made us try lots of different recipes. A pan with all three tossed with a bit of oil, and seasoned with salt & pepper, then roasted is still one of my favourites. Glazing some carrots always made those dinners seem fancier. I used to do a brown sugar, butter & ginger glaze, by just draining the carrots and adding the three additions back with the carrots into the pot, to heat for 5 minutes or so before serving. Years went by, and I started to gently sauté the ginger before adding, and then I bought the Silver Palate cookbook. Well. They added in caraway, a whole new flavour to elevate my simple glazed carrots. While their recipe uses ground ginger & golden sugar, I still like to use minced ginger & brown sugar. But it’s all about innovating, so with a bit of this and a bit of that, here’s the Silver Palate enhanced version of my simple Gingered Carrot recipe. Enjoy, while you remember that it really is okay to eat the same thing most days, as long as it’s good for you!

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Serves 6

Ingredients

2# carrots

3 T butter (1½ oz /42 gr)

1 heaping tablespoon of minced fresh ginger

3 T brown sugar (about 1½ oz / 42 gr)

½ t caraway seeds

Directions

Peel and cut the carrots in thick diagonal slices just over ¼” thick.

Put them into a wide bottomed pot, and add cool water until they’re just covered.

Add in 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir a bit to distribute.

Bring to a boil, reduce to and active simmer, and cover.

Simmer for about 15 minutes until just tender.

While they’re cooking put the butter into a small pot, and melt over medium heat until foaming.

Add in the ginger, and cook for a couple of minutes – do not brown.

When the carrots are ready, drain them, and return them to the pot over medium heat.

Add in the butter & ginger, the sugar and caraway seeds.

Toss gently until all the carrots are glazed, and continue cooking for about 6 minutes, lowering the heat if necessary. They need to heat through with the sugar, but you don’t want to scorch them. Stir gently once or twice during the cooking time.

Spoon them into a serving bowl, and sprinkle with a bit of chopped parsley or some fresh thyme leaves.

Serve immediately.