Carrot Cappuccino

On a snowy winter day, carrots had arrived from the farm, the smells of T’s morning espresso still permeated the air in the kitchen, I had just made fresh almond milk the day before…all the perfect ingredients to make a carrot cappuccino I thought.

Ready to be enjoyed with some ribbon carrot chips as garnish and some cracked coriander seeds for a flavor twist.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch, about 1.2kg/2lbs10oz organic carrots
2 cups + 3 Tbsp homemade almond milk
4 Tbsp strong espresso
2 tsp coriander seeds
Coarse sea salt
Fleur de sel
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 350F

Peel the carrots. Continue peeling one of the carrots to create ribbons. Keep the center of the carrot to chop along with the bunch.

Place a little olive oil in a small bowl to coat the carrot ribbons. Place them on a Silpat on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the remaining carrots. If you prefer, you can grate them-they’ll cook even faster.

After 10 minutes, the carrot ribbons will have started to shrink. Flip them to the other side. Lower the heat to 300 and bake for another 15 minutes approximately.

Once the carrot ribbons are baked into chips, set them on a wire rack to cool.

Bring 4 cups of water with a generous pinch of coarse salt to a boil. Place the chopped carrots in the boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes.

Drain the carrots over a bowl to save the cooking broth.

Place the carrots in the beaker of an immersion blender along with a few spoonfuls of cooking liquid.

Purée the carrots using an immersion blender. You might have to do this in two batches depending on the size of your beaker.

Place the puréed carrots back in the pot. Whisk in the almond milk and espresso. Heat gently to warm the mixture.

Crack the coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle.

Mix 1 tsp of cracked coriander seeds into the carrot mixture and reserve the other tsp for serving.

Pour into cappuccino serving glasses or cups.

Gently warm the 3 Tbsp of almond milk remaining and froth using an electric frother.

Spoon the froth on top of the carrot mixture, garnish with some carrot chips, and sprinkle with cracked coriander and fleur de sel to taste. Enjoy!

Homemade almond milk

This is the purest way to enjoy nondairy milk. Raw almonds and water. That’s it. None of the other ingredients added to commercial almond milk. It also tastes the best. Truly like almonds.

The task might sound intimidating at first, but with the right tools, it is quite simple. I make a batch every two weeks and it takes about one hour. Very much worth it. Taste-wise and health-wise. Please, do try for yourself and let me know your thoughts.

Ingredients:
500 g raw almonds (about 4 cups)
8 cups filtered water + for soaking

Special equipment:
Food processor fitted with a steel blade
Chinois and pestle (or fine sieve)
Cheese cloth

Plan the day before.

Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with water. Soak overnight.

The almonds will plump and the water will become cloudy.

Drain the almonds.
Now there are two ways to proceed. You can peel the almonds to obtain a pure white milk, a very lengthy process, or simply not peel them and use them as is. I will show both ways.

Peeling the almonds is not complicated, just time consuming. If you have help in the kitchen, it can be a fun task to do together around the kitchen table/counter and enjoy sharing time this way. You can use a paring knife, or simply your fingertips. Whichever works best for you. You may want to add a little water in the unpeeled almond bowl to keep them moist, as they dehydrate quickly and are easier to peel when fully hydrated.

I’ve peeled half of my almonds to show you both ways. Same process, slightly different results.

Place the almonds in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Depending on the size of your bowl, you may want to do this in separate batches so the bowl doesn’t overflow when adding the water.

First, grind the almonds alone.

Then add about 1 cup of filtered water for 1 cup of almonds slowly through the feeder while processing.

You will obtain a creamy milk.

Set out your chinois (or sieve) for straining the milk.

Pour the milk through the chinois, over a tall container where the milk can drain.

Mix the pulp around with the pestle until all the milk has been extracted.

Scrape the sides of the chinois with a spatula.

Place the pulp back in the food processor for a second round. Process by adding the same volume of water as the first time around.

Place through the chinois again to extract the milk.

Scrape the pulp from the sides of the chinois onto a baking sheet so you can dehydrate it to transform it into almond meal. Set aside.

Drape a cheesecloth over another container and pour the almond milk through it to remove the finer almond grains remaining.

Pull up the cheesecloth to let the almond milk drip.

Squeeze the milk out of the pulp inside the cheesecloth.

Open the cheesecloth to remove the fine pulp and combine it with the previous pulp onto the baking sheet. Set aside.

Pour the milk into a bottle with a tight cap. Refrigerate for up to two weeks. Shake the bottle before using as the particles will separate while refrigerated.
Now for the unpeeled almonds.

Place the unpeeled almonds directly in the food processor, and proceed as for the peeled almonds.

Grind them.

Add the water.

Extract the milk through a chinois.

When the pulp remains, place back in the food processor for a second round. Pour through a cheesecloth.

And finally put the remaining pulp onto a baking sheet.
To make the almond meal, I place the baking sheet in the oven on the proof setting for a few hours. Sift the almonds when dry enough. Place back on the baking sheet and back into the oven, on proof setting, for another few hours until completely dehydrated. If you have a dehydrator, that would work very well as well. Then store in your pantry and use in your baking or cooking recipes as you would store-bought almond meal.

Here is the difference between the two milks. Purely visual. Taste wise, no noticeable difference. Either way, I wish you to enjoy it in your coffee, hot chocolate or in your baking and cooking recipes.
Delicious for your taste buds and your body!