KITCHEN ADVENTURES: “CARROTS AND LEMONS,” SAY THE BELLS OF ST. CLEMENT’S. In which I make a stock!

But first, Lemon-Roasted Spicy Carrots. The minor goals of this dish were 1) to cook carrots without peeling them (peeling is my absolute, no-holds-barred least favorite kitchen task), and 2) to use a lemon I bought for reasons which now escape me.

I turned the oven to 375, lined a baking tray with tinfoil, chopped off the greenery and the scrubby little tips of the carrots, and washed them intensely under hot water. Then I sliced the lemon and laid out the slices on the tray. The carrots went on top of the lemon slices, where they were doused with cayenne, cumin, and black pepper. (I wasn’t thinking clearly–should’ve also used some curry powder.) Then they were rubbed with olive oil and the tray went in the oven.

I’m not entirely sure how long I roasted them–maybe 20 minutes, stirring twice? I basically just listened to their sizzling and that bizarre scree noise roasting vegetables sometimes make, and sniffed the air, and occasionally checked up on their color, softness, and taste. When they were done, their skins had shriveled a bit, and taken on a slight and alluring gloss. The lemons were blackened; I lifted the carrots off them with a spatula and put them in a dish.

The verdict: Not the prettiest dish I’ve ever cooked, but very tasty! A subtle but distinct lemon taste, not obtrusive. I was really happy with this.

And then! I made my first foray into the wild world of STOCK. Just saying the word makes me feel more competent!

Lemon-Carrot Stock. This was ridiculously easy. Just dump all the kitchen flotsam from the dish above (the green carrot tops, the carrot bits and bobs, the lemon peels and blackened lemon slices) into a small pot. Chuck in a few bay leaves. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 40 minutes. Put a Tupperware knockoff under the colander and pour the stock in; discard whatever the colander catches. You should have a savory, lemony broth. Put it in the fridge overnight, so that tomorrow you can have…

…Carrot & Tomato Soup with Fusilli. This was a tad bit more labor-intensive than I’d expected, but it was also incredibly tasty.

Basically, I roasted carrots for ten minutes using the same technique as before (except with curry powder as well as the other spices this time). Then I set water boiling, stirred the carrots, and put them back in the oven. When the water boiled I put the fusilli in and stirred the carrots again–possibly this is when I decided they were ready? Or maybe I gave them another five or six minutes? Not sure.

Anyway, while the pasta was cooking, I chopped a tomato. Eventually I also chopped the roasted carrots. I sauteed those in a little olive oil briefly, with some more spices, until they were all sizzly-bubbly, and then began to add the stock. Basically, I just added stock until it seemed “about right.”

When the pasta was still very firm–like, about two minutes before what I would consider al dente–I drained it, and kept it aside while I futzed with the soup, getting it to bubble and cook. (At this point I also toasted a couple slices of bread; I wanted buttered toast to dip into the soup and soak up the broth. I did that, and it was delicious, but it was also unnecessary–the broth is rich enough to stand on its own, and the pasta gives the dish enough starch. The toast felt like overdoing it.) Once the soup was bubbly, I put the fusilli in, added more stock, and cooked until the pasta was just past al dente.

Then poured out the soup into a bowl, and topped with parmesan cheese. (I used Sargento’s parmesan blend, but I don’t recommend that–their Mexican cheese blend is fantastic, but the parmesan blend has a blandly processed taste rather than the addictive, focus-group processed awesomeness of the Mexican blend.) The parmesan starts to melt into the soup as you say grace!

The verdict: Totally delectable. A hearty but not overwhelming soup. You could throw some roasted corn in there, maybe cooked potato chunks instead of the pasta; or you could take it in another direction, add a jalapeno and chop up some cilantro on top. …The lemon taste is very subtle here–I thought I did catch it, but it’s very light.