This guest post is brought to you by our dear friend, the wonderful and talented Kirsty Hughan of The Good Taste Guide!
It is inevitable that our holiday traditions change. When I was young, my family and I would spend every Thanksgiving at my aunt Suzanne’s, her house filled chock-a-block with our large family. As the youngest of the cousins, my sister and I always looked up to the older kids. How could we not fill our plates with whatever our experienced cousins recommended? If they ate green vegetables, we did too. As we grew, our cousins married, our family moved, and we could no longer celebrate Thanksgiving where we used to. We could, however, celebrate it how we used to. Our food can always be the constant.
At Easter, Aunt Suzanne is always present at our table when we make and serve her beautiful carrot ring–gorgeous, soft as a soufflé, and absolutely festive. Every year my mother pulls this recipe from her box, handwritten on an index card. I remember first going through my mother’s recipe box when I became truly interested in cooking. My heart raced as I found the source of our family’s traditions. Here were Grammie’s chocolate chip cookies, Nanny’s Norwegian pancakes, Suzanne’s Festive Carrot Ring.
I sat down during the course of an entire college break to write these recipes by hand myself. And when began my own blog, these were my sources of inspiration. It was then I realized how deep-rooted and personal good taste is, and how intrinsically linked it is to falling in love with that first bite, repeated year after year.
This Easter, ever changing, we will be celebrating with a family brunch. With no room for carrot soufflé at the dinner table, I am glad to have tested this recipe in Pam’s kitchen. How rare and thrilling to share my heritage with someone else, and to share Aunt Suzanne’s recipe with all of you.
- 1½ pounds carrots, peeled and cut into ½ inch thick rounds
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- Salt
- 1 onion, cut into small dice
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- ¾ cup (3 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- Ground black pepper
- 1 box (10 ounces) frozen green peas
- Adjust oven to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place carrots, 2 tablespoons butter, a sprinkling of salt, and ½ cup of water in a large skillet. Turn heat to high, put lid on and cook until carrots are just tender and liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove lid and add onion to the skillet. Cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, process eggs until frothy in a blender. With blender running, slowly add milk until blended, about 30 seconds. With blender still running, add carrots mixture by the cupful. Increase speed and puree until smooth. Turn puree into a medium bowl; stir breadcrumbs, cheese, and a sprinkling of pepper.
- Spoon carrot mixture into a well-greased 1½ quart ring mold. Bake until firm and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, microwaves peas and remaining tablespoon butter, covered, on high power until steamy hot, about 5 minutes. Serve; filling center with cooked peas.
Kirsty, I love this! Not only that it’s a family recipes, but also that it’s bright and colorful…and yes, festive. I would love to see this at the center of my Easter table. Seems like kids would really love it too. Thanks for sharing this with us and with the 3MC readers 🙂
This looks great. With just one adjustment this will make a lovely addition to my Passover celebration. I’m going to replace the bread crumbs with matzah meal and hope for the best. Thanks for this lovely family recipe.
Maggy, so glad to hear you love Suzanne’s Festive Carrot Ring. I do too. It’s probably the dish I most look forward to, and you’re right, it’s perfect for kids.
Ilana, glad to hear you’ll be using it for Passover, and I hope it makes a leap into your family’s recipe box.
Kirsty: I think that Suzanne’s Festive Carrot Ring played a supporting role in the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie “You’ve Got Mail”!
I had a strong visual memory of the scene at the Thanksgiving party where they first meet face to face as foes, and Tom Hanks is stealing all the caviar garnish from around a dish that looks like the Festive Carrot Ring. See the “You’ve Got Mail” trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96gRJxIGa5A) at the 0:59 mark to see what you think!
In any case, it look like a winner and I plan to try it in the near future … I think it might help to increase the carrot consumption around my holiday table! Thanks for the guest post.
Mary Frances: I loved that! It does look like Suzanne’s ring, except not quite as orange, and much less kid friendly with a caviar garnish. What a doll Meg Ryan is, huh? I like You’ve Got Mail, but this really made me want to watch When Harry Met Sally.
I’m going to try this, looks very festive and interesting, I like to try new recipes.
wow, this is a retro throwback! Love it. I have yet to make it, but I’ve marked it before in my vintage cookbooks.