Carrots?? Carrots cure the blues?? Welllll, not exactly… But a trip to the Farmer’s Market, a cast iron skillet, and an hour+ of prep time will. For sure. 😉

Dinner tonight is blues food — not the kind where you’re listening to the blues, but the kind you fix when you want comforting. At least for those of us with Southern foodways. You get out your grandma’s (or great-grandma’s, if you’re lucky) skillet, and you toss in some fresh-picked carrots (the small ones are sweeter). Slather them with olive oil (no measly drizzle here), sprinkle w/ salt & cracked pepper, and roast ’em until the little bites are crispy. The larger ones will be tender. And they ALL will be amazing.

Cooked carrots are one of those things folks love to hate. Kind of like…broccoli. Or kale. And normally? They’re not my fave, although I don’t dislike them. But these — like roasting broccoli, or turnips, or darn near any veggie — are incredible.

There’s more to our comfort meal tonight (green beans & new blue potatoes — also just picked; fresh-pickled cucumbers; skillet cornbread…blackberries!), but only the carrots are beyond the scope of most human imaginations. 🙂 (Who doesn’t love blackberries??) Which is a lesson (of course — you thought I was just rambling??).

Sometimes, it’s not the content; it’s the process. I read once there are very few truly ‘wrong’ decisions. There are only decisions inadequately supported. Carrots are like that. You can steam them, forgo seasonings, and you have mushy yucky carrots. Like bad baby food. But if you make a decision, and then enter into it w/ the heat & imagination to properly roast carrots? Follow through with the decision generously (remember the slathering of olive oil?). Consult your history (that cast iron skillet). And perhaps it won’t be so difficult to get down, as it were.

As for me? The blues are sooo much easier when it’s Farmer’s Market time. Comfort cooking to distract you, and all the goodies after!