Not Just a Man's World

Amazingly, this complex recipe was completely paleo when I found it in my Good Housekeeping book and required no adjustments.  It just goes to show what you can find when you are looking!  The recipe worked well with a few minor tweaks to the instructions where they were slightly lacking in the book – I learned a lot as I went through this.

Some of you may have got a feel for how choosy Chris can sometimes be with his foods (though he is always willing to try things).  I was therefore amazed at the end of lunchtime, after serving this up alongside last week’s peperonata, the roasted asparagus and rocket salad and a paleo onion tart (to follow next week), to find that Chris had thought this to be the star of the show.  To quote him: “I could quite happily eat the whole of that on my own without any of the other stuff.”

I have to agree, despite the fiddliness of the recipe (which means it will only ever be a special treat) it was rather tasty.

A word of advice before I start: don’t embark on this unless you either have a food processor with a fine grating blade or you have the patience of a saint.  I don’t think I would have had the patience to grate 1.5lb carrots and it was the perfect opportunity to test-drive the grating plate on my new food processor that I was given earlier in the year – I got the whole lot grated in less than 2 minutes!

Carrot roulade with egg and watercress filling

Ingredients (serves 4-6, or 1 if you are Chris, can be used as a cold main course for vegetarians):
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (not crucial if you are dairy-free paleo)
1 tbsp chopped coriander
12-16 whole coriander leaves (only important if you are after extra presentation points)
125g (4oz) butter
700g (1.5lb) carrots, finely grated
6 medium eggs, separated

Ingredients for the filling:
6 medium eggs, hard-boiled and shelled
1 bunch or watercress, stalks removed
200g (7oz) mayonnaise

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 33 x 23cm (13 x 9 inch) Swiss roll tin (baking sheet with edges) with two layers of baking parchment.  Sprinkle the Parmesan over the paper and the scatter the whole coriander leaves on top.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan.  Add the carrots and cook gently for 10 minutes or until soft.
4. Drain the carrot mix and place into a large bowl with the egg yolks and chopped coriander (you don’t need to wait for the carrot to cool).  Beat the egg yolks into the carrot and coriander.
5. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks.
6. Using a clean metal spoon, fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the carrot mix to loosen up the carrot mix a bit.  Then fold the rest of the egg whites into the carrots a little at a time taking care not to lose the air out of the egg whites.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly before placing into the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch (it may need a fraction longer than 12 minutes, but keep an eye on it after that to make sure it doesn’t cook too much).
8. While the carrot bakes chop the hard-boiled eggs, finely chop the watercress and place the eggs and watercress together in a bowl with the mayonnaise.  Mix well and set aside.
9. When the carrot roulade base is cooked, slide out onto a board (or just use your counter top!).  Spread with the egg mayonnaise filling (you don’t need to wait until the roulade base cools down but you do need it to be cool enough to be able to touch it) leaving a 1cm (0.5 inch) border.  You don’t want the filling to be too deep, 1-1.5cm is perfect, so you may need to leave some aside to eat separately.
10. Starting from a short side and using the greaseproof paper to help, slowly roll up the roulade.
11. If working on the countertop, carefully slide the roulade onto a board or baking sheet (you’ll probably need some help with this as the roulade is a bit squishy and flexible at this point).  Place in a fridge and chill overnight (16-24 hours is ideal) to allow it to firm up.
12. Just before serving remove from the fridge and trim the ends to neaten it.  Serve in slices.

Related posts:

1. Paleo kitchen experiments: carrot and orange cake
2. Paleo recipes: banana bread
3. Paleo recipes: onion tart
4. Paleo recipes: carrots with cumin and orange