A surprisingly fresh, tasty taste bud tingler made from something you would normally sling in the compost! Double bonus is that it is a ‘no-cook’ recipe!

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Today I became that weirdo that people would whisper about when I passed them in the supermarket…if I were to frequent it regularly enough.

It all happened when I stole someone else’s discarded carrot tops. I didn’t do it slyly and just stick them in my bag, I put them on the conveyor belt with my groceries and when I noticed the cashier looking at the herbs list I had to alert her to the situation.

Cue me going beet red and my husband standing aside quietly snickering and offering no help what-so-ever. I explained that those greens weren’t herbs, that in fact, someone else had removed the tops of the bunch of carrots they were buying and left them on the shelf, so I thought it would be okay to take them.

This resulted in the look. That one where the person giving you the stink eye noticeably slows their actions and keeps their eyes firmly on you in case you begin to show signs of further psychosis.

I didn’t even begin to tell her I was going to eat them. We are currently in a small coastal town in Maine (forgive the presumption all you coastal Mainers out there) that live mainly (NOT a pun) on lobster and seafood, NOT carrot tops.

Anyhoo, to the recipe.

Whilst spending time in a campervan you generally want to minimise waste because of space and lack of a compost bin; you also want easy tasty recipes…RIGHT? So this is where the carrot compost comes in. The leaves just look so pretty and who can resist a bunch of carrots with their tops still on, but what to do with them? Other than put them in blended soups and pesto, make Chinese ‘seaweed’ or pretend that they are flat leaved parsley?

If you don’t have your blender with you then you aren’t making any of those things this time around.

Instead you can make this simple dish, a great side to an Asian inspired main course, an addition to a salad or even good on its own as a damned tasty snack with hellish amount of goodness. Carrots are rich in vitamin A, B6, C and K, folate, manganese, niacin, potassium and thiamin, as are the leaves, so give them a go.

I can’t remember where I found this recipe originally but I have made a few changes to it and it just keeps getting better.

Recipe

Carrots with leaves attached

fresh red chili

1 tbsp Sesame seeds

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp sesame oil or mild olive oil if you don’t have sesame.

Directions

1. Separate carrots from tops and put carrots away. You wont need these yet, if at all. Now separate the leaves from the stalks by hand choosing only the most succulent leaves. Some can feel really grassy and dry, they will generally have the biggest leaves, discard these. This is quite a therapeutic stage, rather like stringing beans or podding peas. I normally do this bit in the passenger seat when we are on the road.

2. Discard stalks and thoroughly rinse the leaves. You can’t damage them so give them a good mild squeeze with each rinse to get the worst of the dirt out. Then cover them in water and leave them over night in the fridge, changing the water once or twice if you remember. I put them in a Tupperware tub with a lid, save them sloshing out all over the fridge if you are on the move. This process takes a lot of the bitterness out of the leaves.

3. 24 hours of soaking later your greens are ready to dress. They will last longer if you want them to, just change the water again. To prepare for eating drain the leaves and squeeze the water out. Put the surprisingly small handful in a bowl and pull apart after its abusive squeeze. Mix the rice wine vinegar, soy and sesame oil and taste, if it is too sharp for your taste add a sprinkle of sugar and stir until it is dissolved.

4. Pour dressing onto leaves and leave to marinade for an hour in the fridge. After an hour bring to room temperature and sprinkle with toasted or plain sesame seeds and chili. Depending how hot my chili is depends on how much I add and how I slice it. If it is mild I slice it thinly on an angle and lay the pretty red rings on the top, if it is nuclear hot I chop it very small and add a little and stir it through the leaves. If you don’t like chili you can omit it all together.

Enjoy the crunchy, yet chewy texture and fresh flavours with a glass of Riesling*.

Serving suggestion

You could prepare some roasted carrots at home to serve with it if you wished, or even sling some in the fire pit in a double layer of foil with a drizzle of olive oil and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. The thin carrots that normally come with their tops on take around 30 minutes in the oven at 400F/ 200C.

In the fire obviously it depends how hot your coals are but just keep having a peep. If you roast them and have some of the now delicious oil that they have cooked in, use that in place of the sesame oil in the recipe on the tops.

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Tell me how you coped in your tiny campervan kitchen? What went right? what went wrong? Share the good, the bad and the ugly and help me improve the recipes, improve the step by step directions and bulk up the hints and tips for great cooking in a campervan.

I would love this to become a community, us camping foodies need to work together to displace the myth that a campervan kitchen can’t produce great food!

So, get cooking! Xx

*Strictly a Riesling over 12.5% volume, any less and it will be too sweet.