Carrots with mint & quinoa

January 28, 2013

We got to the end of our veggie box with just a handful of carrots, mixed greens and a bunch of mint to use up. Completely uninspired, we just googled: carrots, mint, recipe to see what would turn up. The #1 hit was this recipe on Taste. Our version was slightly different: we had fancy purple carrots to include, swapped quinoa in for cous cous (just because it was what we had) and added our mixed greens. We also managed to forget to drizzle the pomegranate molasses, but this dish didn't really miss it - the carrots were sweet enough. It had the vibe of a simpler version of an Ottolenghi salad, and was almost as classy. It's quite simple, but just a little bit sophisticated - something fairly easy to throw together as an impressive side dish or a healthy main.

Carrots with mint & quinoa

(adapted from this recipe on Taste)

3/4 cup quinoa

3 small orange carrots and 3 small purple carrots (about 500g total), halved

1 bunch of mint, chopped

200g feta, crumbled

3 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

1/3 cup olive oil

Juice of a lemon

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Prepare the quinoa as per the instructions (we go basically 1:1 with water and cook it over a low heat until the water is absorbed).

Combine the carrots, garlic, most of the olive oil and the chilli flakes in a high-walled baking tray and toss to combine. Pop the tray into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes - checking every 5 or 10 to make sure things don't get overcooked (you want the carrots to retain some of their firmness).

Whisk together the lemon juice with the rest of the oil, and combine with the cooked carrots, mint and feta. If you're organised, you could remember to drizzle with pomegranate molasses before serving, but it's not essential.