I decided to make some Portuguese vegetable-focused dishes for personal sustenance. This is my first time cooking out of this 2018 book by Ana Ortins. I researched Portuguese cookbooks over the Christmas holiday and decided on this one; however, I cannot recall what led me to that decision. My experience with it so far based on this one recipe is positive.

This dish is clearly a relative of Moroccan spiced carrots (the cookbook Plenty features a version of this that I cooked in 2016.) The carrots are roasted then tossed with a spicy dressing made with a mortar and pestle. I recall the Plenty-version being more of a spice powder. This version has less cumin and a lot more lemon and garlic. I’d actually go easy on the lemon, especially if they’re big. Try 2 tbsp instead of 1 lemon. The number of servings is definitely for a small side. As a main with rice, this feeds 2.

The carrots are potent: garlicky, lemony, with lighter notes of earthy spices. I really like the pine nuts, especially that they called for 1/2 cup. This makes them very prominent in the dish. There’s also enough dressing to coast some rice or bread. The cook is given the option of cilantro or parsley; I went with the former as it’s featured in the title of the recipe.

Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 5