Carrots with Grapes

June 2013;  Though I used to make this recipe a lot, I had not made it in years when I spotted some good looking grapes on special in the market.  I revisited Moogie's recipe (below) and decided it needed an update. For starters, because of the high sodium nitrate content, I don't use celery salt anymore. I now almost always use fresh garlic but didn't think  garlic would pair well with my main entree.  Likewise no dried chervil but a garden full of mint and Thai basil.  

The main concept here is carrots and grapes. add what you will/have.  For 2 servings, I boiled 2 carrots sliced in coins for 2 minutes (no basil), dried and added to the grapes prepared per below (scaled down for two servings and sans garlic, chervil and celery salt). Tossed in 1 1/2 t lemon juice and the coarsely chopped Thai basil and mint (to taste) and served with Salmon and Grilled Scallions.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe Moogie gave me.
Serves ~8, depending on size of carrots.

In boiling salted [I omit salt] water cook:

12 carrots cut in strips [I usially do oblong "coins"]

1 t dried basil [I prefer fresh basil when available]

In a separate pan, melt

½ c butter [I use 1T butter + 1T olive oil]

Add:

1/8 t garlic powder [I use fresh minced or omit]
1 t chervil [I usually omit]
Pinch celery salt [I do not use]

Let stand.

Add:

2 c seedless green grapes [I often use a mix of seedless green and red grapes]

Sautee grapes for about 1 minute until coated with spices (don’t overcook or skin of grapes will split), add carrots which have been well drained and:

3 T lemon juice
Chopped fresh basil, if available

Toss and serve.

February-March 2015: Whole Foods had bags of multi-colored ("rainbow") carrots, including some awesome purple ones with yellow centers and grapes on special. Couldn't resist and this recipe became a staaple during our stay in Colorado (bottom photo above and photo at left). Just used fresh basil, lemon juice, olive oil and/or butter.  Unless I was making a large batch, instead of parboiling, I just stir-fried the raw carrot coins in olive oil/butter in the same pan to which I eventually added the grapes, basil and lemon juice. A good accompaniment for grilled salmon, lamb or Rosemary Chicken. 

Reviewed 8/30/2017