Keep It Simple Saturday: Greek Kapotenia (Carrot Truffles)

This post is for my brother, Dennis. I have been promising to share this recipe with him for a while now. I encountered this sweet carrot macroon while thumbing through Vefa's Kitchen cookbook "the bible of Greek cooking".

This is a great simple recipe (although a little more involved than eating cherries and chevre over the sink). The flavor is very macroon like- I think that your tasters will be surprised to realize that this contains carrots. The recipe is unique and makes a great little presentation.

KAPOTENIA

1lb, 2 oz medium carrots

1c superfine sugar

finely grated zest of 1 large lemon

1t vanilla extract

2-1/3 - 3-2/3 c dried unsweetened dessicated coconut (I used Red Mill)

1. Parboil the carrots for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat, drain, cool and then grate coarsely.
2. Combine grated carrots, sugar and lemon zest in a pan and cook, stirring frequently for 20 minutes
3. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add vanilla and half the coconut. Mix well.
4. Let cool completely and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll each in the remaining coconut. (If they don't hold together well, add more coconut)
6. Put the truffles in candy cases and store in air tight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

A final note about carrots: I recently came across some yellow and purple carrots at the Snohomish farmer's market- I am always intrigued by unique veggies, so I had to buy. I learned later that these funky colors are not so unique, but more representative of ancient carrots. Today these are mostly engineered to enhance nutrient values and flavor (I guess most veggies fall in that catagory that aren't heirloom). I am not sure how I feel about having scientists messing about with my veggies. Today's popular orange carrots are a true product of scientist intervention. I read that the beta carotene content in today's carrots in 25% greater than 20 years ago.

Surprisingly someone has devoted a whole website to the subject of carrots, if you are interested in learning more about carrot history, check it out here: www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html