Sometimes the simplest food tastes best. Also - the closer your food is to nature the more nourishing it is likely to be. Most of the food I like to eat relies on these two principles.
In all the years I worked in nutrition research at the University of Leeds my hunches about food were backed up by hard data about diets rich in fruit and vegetables being associated with lower incidence of diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
But I do not believe in preaching and hope
a photograph can talk as effectively about the joy of eating a simple, nutritious food cooked well, as an eminent health professional.
These bunched carrots were trimmed, coated in a little light olive oil and roasted in a baking tray covered with foil for an hour at 160C. I served them as a warm vegetable for lunch scattered with a little sea salt and chopped coriander. They taste great with fresh bread and some crumbled feta cheese. The slow cooking caramelises the natural sugars present in the carrots and concentrates their flavour.
Carrots contain a small amount of a whole range of nutrients such as calcium, potassium and iron. The one nutrient they are infamous for is beta carotene which imbues the carrot with its brick orange colour.
I think this dish of slow cooked carrots gives a rustic touch to a meal and is worth the small effort of giving them a quick scrub and throwing them into a pan in the oven.