A Kilo of Carrots, pt.1

After the aforementioned crap couple of weeks where I ate mostly toast and not a lot else, I ended up unemployed. This is shit, however way you look at it, but after a long weekend where I have cried on several colleagues, my boy, his flatmate, my flatmate, my old flatmate, my friend and her daughter (who is 4 months old and decided to give me a good run for my money at one point in the story), my mum and my dad, I feel better. There are positives. I have two months paid to find a new job before I need to panic. I have already had an interview. It will all be fine.

However, I do feel the need to warn you all that there may be a large selection of 'frugal' recipes being hurled your way. The advantage of unemployment is that I *actually* have time to write about things I'm cooking. The disadvantage is that they will mostly be vegetarian and of the thrifty variety. You have been warned.

The other night, I decided to get myself down to the supermarket, and buy some ingredients to make actual food as a start to my sort-of-plan of getting healthy whilst unemployed. Admittedly this is partly because the "toast diet" has meant I can fit my skinny jeans and I'd like it to stay that way, but it's also because I want an excuse to cook stuff despite having to be careful with the pennies.
So, I was good. My Friday night bargain consisted mostly of things that have now gone into the freezer - vast amounts of cheap protein from the reduced section, but also vast amounts of carrots.
A couple of years ago, an old lady came up to me at the self-service checkout in Tesco and told me to stick all my vegetables through as carrots, because they were so cheap. She'd been doing it for months and never been caught. This little incident has created a myth in my mind that carrots are really cheap. Turns out they're not anymore- the 1kg 'essentials' bag I bought for 39p was previously £1.09. Blimey.

It occurred to me when I got home that I wasn't sure what to do with said carrots. I don't really like them, unless they're slathered in honey and butter and roasted - and seeing as my oven has gone the way of my fridge and died a little over the weekend, that wasn't really an option. So, I did what I do with all vegetables that I don't know what to do with, and souped them. Except I don't like carrot and coriander, so I googled, and had a bash at a classic that ended up like this...

Potage Crecy
Serves 4 as a main or 6 as a starter.

50g butter or margerine
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
750g carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large (about 200g) potato, peeled and diced
500g chicken stock (or vegetable if preferred)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
50ml single cream
Teaspoon ground black pepper

Gently fry the onion and garlic in heated oil or butter until softened and translucent.
Add in the rosemary and cook for a minute, then add in the carrots and potatoes, mix through and cover with stock.
Simmer in a lidded pan for approx 30 minutes, until the potato is cooked through and the carrots are soft.
Add in the lemon juice, remove from the heat and blend until silky smooth. Add more stock or water if necessary.
Just before serving, stir in the cream and pepper.

Cheap and cheerful, but posh, 'cos it's French.