Curious Orange

Though the term “escabeche” formally refers to pickly-preserved fried fish in Spanish cooking, to us it’s the stuff of plastic bags. Here in L.A., a taco truck is generally considered remiss if they don’t hand out free sides of escabeche — big glowing orbs of spicy carrot, pickled jalapeños, and sweetly spiced white onion mingling in their combined brine, precariously pressing the creased baggie to its limits.

Well, while cooking up a roasted mushroom taco the other day, we wondered about making a sauce based on escabeche to save us the trouble of running down to the store or are nearest wheeled taqueria. By roasting off the carrots, peppers and onions, blending them with vinegar and spiking it with a little clove, we got something similar to the pickles but in a squeezable form.
We used it on the tacos, fried potato taquitos, even a lemon yogurt coleslaw. But one week later, we still had half a squirt bottle of this briney brew (it gets tarter over time). So, we boiled up a cup of wild rice and a cup of quinoa and made a sweet corn-rice salad! Guess what the dressing was…

Escabeche Puree
Makes about 3 cups

2 lbs. carrots
6 jalapeños
1 white onion
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 Tbs. ground clove
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/8 cup water
1 Tbs. lime juice
Fresh black pepper to taste
1. Pre-heat an oven to 375 degrees.
2. Chop off the carrot tops, if any, the pepper tops and slice the white onion into half-moon slivers. Additionally, slice the jalapeños in half. Throw all of the above into a shallow roasting pan and toss with olive oil. Season lightly with kosher salt and half the clove (half for later). Cover pan with aluminum foil to prevent scorching.
3. Stick the pan of veggies in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once carrots are fully cooked but still orange, remove pan and let sit to cool. Toss out half the jalapeño slices to keep mixture from losing orange color and from being too hot.
4. In a food processor, pulse the roasted goods while slowly adding the grapeseed oil, and then the apple cider vinegar, and finally the water. Consistency should be that of a thicker puree. But if it remains too thick to properly blend, add an additional teaspoon of each liquid (oil, vinegar, water). Add the rest of the ground clove and another pinch of salt to taste.
Beverage: Lost Abbey’s Angel’s Share
Soundtrack: The Fall’s “I Am Curious Orange Overture”