Turmeric-Roasted Carrots with Seeds and Labne

I love a good roasted carrot, don’t you? If you’re like me, you almost always have a bag of carrots on hand. And if you’re like me, you also typically wait until they’re about to go bad to consider eating them. The carrots usually sit hidden in a drawer, and then one day I’ll catch a glimpse of orange and realize that if I don’t act fast, I’ll lose the whole bunch to old age. When these situations arise, I almost always place them on sheet pan, turn the oven to 450, cover the carrots with olive oil and various spices, and roast them until tender. If we don’t eat them all for dinner, I have the leftovers for lunch with whatever else I’m eating that day. 

Alison treats her carrots the same way. Exactly the same, in fact. Here she prefers to use turmeric, coriander seed, and fennel seed as seasonings of choice. But the beauty of carrots is that they pair well with so many different spices! Most often I choose cumin. Sometimes smoked paprika and chile powder. I liked this particular combo that Alison uses, especially the seeds, which are fun to bite into. 

Alison also loves some good dairy mixed with lemon and garlic to go with her veggies. I’ve noticed it’s kind of her thing. And you might notice that I chose to skip that here. While I could have gone with some goat’s milk yogurt for my base instead of labne, I had a particularly discouraging episode with dairy the night before, and let’s just say my body would not have thanked me for giving it more. Sometimes, ya gotta call an audible and listen to your body’s cues. 

If you have a bag of carrots in your fridge, don’t neglect them. Cherish them. Give them the oil and spices they deserve and heat them up until your fork can’t help but pierce one. And then another. And another. 

122 recipes cooked, 103 to go.

Grilled Eggplant Dressed with Garlicky Walnuts and Lots of Basil by Alison Roman

Eggplant, I’ve learned, is polarizing. Its flavor, its texture, and even its shape seem to draw out strong responses from people. Whether you love it or hate it, you feel strongly about the camp you’re in. Which is funny to me, because personally I’m in the middle. I didn’t grow up with eggplant – I’m not even sure if I’d heard of it till college. But my school’s cafeteria didn’t do the vegetables any justice. It wasn’t until making my own ratatouille that I was presented with eggplant in an edible, non-soggy and flavorless form. That experience turned me on to eggplant. I realized its potential for providing an almost creamy element to recipes, when cooked correctly. Alison sure loves a creamy eggplant, and has since exposed me to several other ways to eat it, particularly the oil-roasted method. Which I think I prefer to grilled eggplant. 

Grilled eggplant, though it looked pretty, didn’t prove to be the best eating experience. I found that the skin became tougher and hard to chew. I found myself scraping the flesh out with my fork, which was far less appetizing. 

The flavor of this recipe… well, there wasn’t a whole lot of it. In my opinion, Alison’s signature move is in-your-face flavor. But this recipe lacked boldness. The toasted walnuts with garlic and pepper flakes were nice but not strong. The basil added some obviously herbal notes, but it didn’t transform anything. Salt and pepper didn’t carry enough weight to make this stand out. And in fact, only two of the four of us ended up eating any of it. I brought my leftovers home, and a week later, they’re still sitting in my fridge, untouched. 

All that to say, I’m still squarely in the middle when it comes to eggplant. I really like the oven-roasted kind, but I’m out for soggy or grilled eggplant. I don’t care how tiny and cute the eggplant might be, the recipe needs to have decisive flavor. Do you have eggplant standards, too? I’d love to know! 

119 recipes cooked, 106 to go.

Grilled Corn Salad with Fresh Cheese and Corn Nuts by Alison Roman

A few weeks ago, I made Alison’s other grilled corn salad, Charred Corn and Scallions with Tomatillos. I have a preference between the two. Keep reading to find out! (Oh, the suspense!)

This Grilled Corn Salad is essentially the same as the Charred Corn, but instead of scallions, there are red onions marinated in lime juice, and instead of sliced tomatillos, a half cup of corn nuts. Both salads use plenty of cilantro and cotija. And both benefit from lots of salt and black pepper. 

The corn nuts are super fun in the Grilled Corn Salad. They blend in really well with the corn kernels, so you don’t know when you’ve got one on your fork. This makes their crunch a total surprise. You never know when you’ll chomp down on one of those toasty, salty buds. Corn nuts remind me of my childhood. My mom never bought them for us, but I would trade away anything in my brown paper sack for a bag of corn nuts at the lunch tables. 

I’m curious about Alison’s choice to have us grill the corn with husks on, rather than directly over the flames. With the husks on, the corn didn’t get any char and it took a whole half hour to cook. The other salad had the kernels char directly over the grate and it only took 10 minutes. Quicker, tasiter, and reason #1 why I prefer the Charred Corn over the Grilled Corn. 

Reason #2 is the lack of strong acidic contrast in the Grilled Corn Salad. While the recipe calls for lime juice, it’s a primarily salt-forward dish. I know I could just add more lime, but I appreciate how the Charred Corn incorporated the juicy, tangy elements of tomatillos right out of the gate. I think this classifies as truly a personal preference, but I’ll vote anything with tomatillos over dishes without. The presence of tomatillos cinched the deal for me. At the end of the day, it’s the Charred Corn that I crave, both for the time it takes to make and its flavor profile. 

118 recipes cooked, 107 to go.

Roasted Radishes with Green Goddess Butter by Alison Roman

One of the very first recipes I ever made for this project was Alison’s Butter-Tossed Radishes with Fresh Za’atar, and it blew my mind. I’d never eaten a whole radish before, much less found myself craving one. I even learned about Za’atar. I’ll always think fondly of those radishes, because they signified a new and exciting chapter in my quarantine life. One where I invested in my creative interests and believed in my own growth and flourishing. 

When I saw this roasted radish recipe, I couldn’t help but reflect on how this all began and what this project means to me. We’re about at the halfway point, both with the recipe count and the calendar. I have until January 27 to complete the 225th recipe. So far, I’ve had the most wonderful time. At the beginning, I made the conscious choice to let this be about having fun, about enjoying food and savoring writing. I decided that I wouldn’t let any to-do-list-checking or feelings of self-consciousness get in the way. I’ve grown immensely in my knowledge of food and my confidence in cooking. At the start, I questioned the notion of serving a plateful of radishes. Now, I see a plateful of radishes and my mouth starts to water. In addition to my confidence in cooking, my taste buds have grown too… I know you came here for the radishes, so thanks for letting me do a bit of reflection. We can turn to that irresistible Green Goddess Butter now…  

If you’ve ever had Green Goddess salad dressing, this is its fabulously spreadable cousin in butter form. And it’s so easy to make. Alison gives the option to mash all of the ingredients together with a fork. But after just a few moments of smashing, I decided to opt for my food processor, which was much more equipped to handle the ingredients. Speaking of which, this butter consists of fresh herbs – chives, parsley, and tarragon, garlic, anchovies, and white wine vinegar. The recipe creates about twice as much as needed. Which is why I chose to follow Alison’s advice and pair this with her Grilled Trout with Green Goddess Butter. 

The radishes are oven-roasted until tender, and the leaves are crisp. This was my second time purchasing and cooking with a bunch of radishes (as opposed to pre-cleaned and trimmed ones). As a heads up, both bunches required extensive cleaning. I could feel the grains of dirt covering the leaves, and it took some work to clean each one thoroughly. Once the radishes were roasted, I plated them on top of the butter, and sprinkled them with lemon juice and salt. They were a tasty (and aesthetically pleasing) side for the fish!

111 recipes cooked, 114 to go.

Crushed Baby Potatoes with Scallion, Celery, and Lots of Dill

Ah, yes, potato salad. A heralded classic of American cuisine. And yet (and yet) I’ve never liked it. Maybe it’s the cold blocks of potato, or the heavy globs of mayonnaise. Or perhaps, it’s the typical lack of noteworthy flavor. It could be the way it sits in its tub, begging the question: how long have you been sitting there, bud? 

Enter Alison Roman. As usual, she’s decided to shake things up with a new spin on potato salad. Or dare I say, an entirely superior way to make potato salad. In this recipe, you’ll see no mayonnaise, crushed potatoes, tons of fresh herbs, and bold, distinct flavor. You may never want a different potato salad again. 

First step is to boil the potatoes. No, we’re not looking for red skinned potatoes, but rather golden ones that are no larger than a golf ball. (Sure, you can use red-skinned potatoes, but don’t. Those are more mealy and less visually appealing, IMO.) The potatoes only take 15 or so minutes to boil until they’re completely tender. Before smashing them with my palm, I let them cool almost completely, and in the meantime, prepared the rest of the ingredients. 

The bulk of the flavor comes from olive oil, #lotsofdill, lemon zest and juice, finely chopped scallions (white and green parts), and anchovies. These ingredients are combined and tossed with the boiled, crushed potatoes along with finely sliced celery stalks. Finally, the salad is topped with chopped celery leaves, parsley, and dashes of salt and pepper, for good measure. 

I made this salad at home before transporting it to my in-law’s home for dinner. The potatoes spent an extra hour in the dressing, which gave them a chance to become better acquainted with the herbs and lemon juice. This dish was a complete hit between the four of us, and I have a hard time imagining anyone who wouldn’t like it. Which means this can and should be brought instead of that store-bought tub of potato salad you normally bring to potlucks. I can guarantee you won’t have leftovers, and you’ll receive way more complements. Plus, Alison says this salad can be made up to 2 days ahead, so you have no excuses.

110 recipes cooked, 115 to go.

isn’t she lovely