It's winter. [In case you hadn't noticed.]
The days are really short.
[In case you hadn't noticed.]
The truth is that short days make me kind of nuts. We live in a lovely little hollow and there is a big hill with a lot of trees on the south side of the property. In the depths of winter, it takes a while for the sun to come up behind that hill and then it's blocked by those trees. It's pretty, but kind of not very sunny. It takes a long time for the sun to clear those trees.
I like full sun.
I'm going through sunshine withdrawal. My skin is so pale it's translucent - but not in a vampire sparkle way - in a white grass under a rock kind of way.
I'm desperate for sunshine.
So desperate that I have even been taking my daily walk in the cold.
In the cold.
In. The. Cold.
Eric tells me I'll live.
While I'm waiting impatiently for the north pole to get closer to the sun and for the days to get longer, I've been eating golden food. Golden soups, golden cheeses, golden vegetables, and this golden carrot puff. Just to remind me of the sun. Plus, all those beta-carotenes are good for me.
Here's one of my all time favorite winter dishes. Golden like the sun plus enough beta-carotenes to give you a fake tan, if you don't mind looking like Anne Hathaway in Bride Wars.
The recipe is very forgiving, so if you add more or less of something, it'll still taste wonderful.
Robin's Carrot Puff
www.rurification.com
2-3 C shredded carrots
2 C shredded or chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed.
3T butter [yes, the real stuff]
Cook that stuff in a pot until the onions are transparent. It caramelizes everything and makes it sweeter. Then add:
1/2 C oatmeal
1 tsp salt
pepper
a shake or two of nutmeg
1 1/2 C yogurt
1 C or more grated cheese
4 eggs, beaten
Put it all in a casserole dish and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes. I always bake mine in a blue dish because the orange and the blue look so pretty together. Also, it tastes better in the blue dish.
This is great served warm or at room temperature.