Roasted Carrot Tostadas

I was having a bad day and wanted the sort of cooking that gives you something absorbing and meditative to do with your hands, followed by a dinner visually stunning and delectable enough to make up for at least some of what had come before.

These tostadas did the job. The carrots and fennel are gently roasted in foil packets rather than browned, which makes the carrots soft and almost velvety and gives the fennel exactly the texture I wanted for an easy agrodolce. The fennel is roughly blended with dates, red wine vinegar and brown butter, staying deliberately chunky, then spread generously over crisp corn tortillas and topped with the carrots. Raw red pepper adds crunch, pickled hot peppers add heat, and mint and fennel fronds keep the whole thing fresh.

There will be more fennel agrodolce than you need for the tostadas. This is not a problem. I ate the remainder as a dip later on the balcony, late afternoon sun in my eyes, along with a glass of crispy chilled white wine and some crackers.

These tostadas are much too pretty not to eat sitting properly at the table, although from a purely practical standpoint I should probably have eaten mine standing over the sink. Fold them, use your hands and have plenty of napkins nearby. They are delicious and very messy.

2 small carrots

1 small fennel bulb, fronds reserved

2 corn tortillas

1/4 small red pepper

4 dates

1 1/2 Tbsps red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp butter

2 tsps sliced pickled hot peppers, or hot sauce to taste

1 Tbsp chopped mint

1 Tbsp chopped fennel fronds

Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 425.

Trim the carrots and cut them lengthwise into thin planks. Cut the fennel bulb into wedges, reserving some of the fronds for later.

Put the carrots on a sheet of aluminum foil, add 1 Tbsp water and a little salt, and seal the foil tightly around them to make a packet. Do the same with the fennel in a second piece of foil, again adding 1 Tbsp water and a little salt before sealing.

Put both packets in the oven and roast for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the carrots and fennel are completely soft. You aren't looking for browning here; the sealed packets essentially steam the vegetables as they roast.

While the vegetables are cooking, pit the dates and cover them with boiling water. Leave them to soften for 10 minutes, then drain.

When the vegetables are ready, remove them from the oven and turn the oven off. Unwrap the carrots and set them aside. Put the corn tortillas directly onto the oven rack and leave them in the residual heat for about 10 minutes while you make the agrodolce and prepare the toppings. They should become crisp without needing any oil.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pan and continue cooking it until the milk solids turn golden brown and it smells nutty.

Put the soft roasted fennel, drained dates, red wine vinegar and brown butter into a suitable container and use an immersion blender to roughly combine them. Don't try to make this smooth. You want a chunky, textured agrodolce with discernible pieces of fennel and date. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary.

Thinly slice the red pepper and chop the mint and fennel fronds.

Remove the tortillas from the oven. Spread each one generously with fennel agrodolce. Divide all of the roasted carrot planks between the two, then finish with the sliced raw red pepper, pickled hot peppers, mint and fennel fronds. If you don't have pickled hot peppers, a little hot sauce will give you the heat you need.

Serve immediately. Fold, pick up with both hands and resign yourself to at least a tree's worth of napkins.