Orange aid: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's carrot recipes

Roasted carrots and new potatoes with gremolata: The perfect side dish to serve up with a late spring roast. Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian

There's a statistic floating around which states that, if you averaged it all out, each individual in the UK consumes roughly 100 carrots a year. Of course, many people do nothing of the sort – teenagers being a particular case in point, in my experience – but I can still believe the figure. This is not least because, on top of my own quota, I must be purloining a root or two from every sub-100 carrot-consumer in the land – I eat tonnes of the things.
But why wouldn't we get through so many of these wonderful roots? I defy you to come up with anything that's wrong with them. They're good for you raw (when they retain more of their vitamin C) and they're good for you cooked (when they release more of their beta-carotene). They're easy to produce, easy to store and you can buy local examples all year round (or at least British-grown ones). For a ubiquitous, humble and unfailingly cheap vegetable, carrots are extremely versatile. Few other veg offer so many facets of flavour and texture: raw, grated carrot is a world away from a smooth, blended carrot soup; caramelised, sweet, roasted carrot is almost a different vegetable to a dish of lightly steamed and simply buttered baby carrots.
They are also capable of being elevated to great culinary heights. The Lebanese serve them in fragrant salads laced with orange water; in India, you find them in richly spiced, dry curries or grated and boiled hard with sugar and milk, into irresistible gajar burfi – a kind of carrot fudge. Their sweetness and depth of flavour mean they respond beautifully to spicing, revealing a sophisticated side that the over-boiled carrot round could only dream of. I like roasting them with cumin, or finishing steamed young carrots with a blob of mustard and knob of butter.
Carrots are on my mind at the moment because I'm harvesting the first babies from tubs in my greenhouse. I try not to overdo it with these tinies, though, because, charming as it is to be nibbling the first harvest of any new season's veg, they get tastier as they get older (contrary to what some chefs will tell you). In a few more weeks, they'll be finger-thick adolescents – wonderful for eating raw and whole, or sliced into slender halves, lengthways. They're great lightly cooked, too – boiled for three minutes max with a sprig of mint and a dash of salt in the water.
Later in the summer, and well into the autumn, I'll move on to the mature, more generously girthed chaps, and when my garden supply runs out I'll get a kilo or two delivered every week from our local box scheme. Hardly less sweet than the youngsters, and deeply full of carroty flavour, I'm reaching for them almost daily, for soups, stocks, and stews, as well as for juicing.
All told, I eat more carrots than any other veg except spuds – if that 100-a-year figure is true, I must consume five times the national average. Apparently, a surfeit of them turns your skin orange, but even that wouldn't diminish my enthusiasm for carrots. I shall think of it not as an affliction, but a tribute.

Roasted carrots and new potatoes with gremolata (V)

This will set off any Sunday roast, but it's also very good with eggs. Serves four to six.
500g young, finger-thick carrots, scrubbed
500g new potatoes, cut into small, similar-sized pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the gremolata
1 clove garlic, peeled
Around 25g flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 lemon, zest finely grated
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put the carrots and potatoes in a large roasting dish. Pour over the oil, season well and stir to coat. Roast for about 45 minutes, stirring twice, until the vegetables are tender and golden brown in places.
Meanwhile, make the gremolata. Roughly chop the garlic, add the parsley and lemon zest to the board, and chop and mix until very fine.
As soon as the veg are cooked, toss with the gremolata, so the heat ever-so-slightly takes the edge off the garlic. Add more salt and pepper, if needed, and serve straight away.

Carrot and puy lentil salad (V)

Carrot and puy lentil salad: It tastes even better if the ingredients are left to get to know each other for a while. Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian This gorgeous salad is perfect for lunchboxes, as it benefits from being left to stand for a bit. Serves four.
100g puy lentils
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, bashed
A few parsley stalks (optional)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g carrots
1 good handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
For the dressing
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
½ tsp English mustard
½ clove garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 pinch sugar
Put the lentils into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, boil for one minute only, then drain. Return the lentils to the pan and cover with fresh water. Add the bay leaf, garlic and parsley stalks, if using. Bring back to a very gentle simmer and cook very slowly for about half an hour, topping up with boiling water if necessary, until tender but not mushy. Drain the lentils and discard the herbs and garlic. Toss with a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper, and set aside to cool completely.
To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together, and season.
Peel the carrots and grate coarsely (or cut into matchsticks or julienne). Combine with the lentils, and stir in the dressing. Leave for at least half an hour for the flavours to mingle, then taste and season as needed. Stir in the parsley just before serving.

Roasted carrot hummus with orange (V)

This is lovely served with crudités – particularly raw celery and fennel, which are delicious with the rich, slightly sweet carroty hummus. Serves four to six.
500g carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5cm chunks
4 large garlic cloves, bashed
2 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil
1 small orange, juiced, zest finely grated
Juice of ½ lemon
3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the carrots, garlic and oil in a roasting tin, season and roast for 30-35 minutes, giving the carrots a good stir halfway through, until tender and starting to caramelise at the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Tip the carrots into a food processor. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and put these in, too, along with any oil from the tin. Add the orange zest and juice, lemon juice, tahini and some salt and pepper, and process to a coarse purée. Add more lemon juice and seasoning as necessary. Serve the hummus warm or at room temperature, with crudités or warm pitta bread or flatbreads.

Spicy carrot soup with spinach (V)

Carrots are grade-A soup vegetables, because they purée beautifully and lose none of their flavoursome allure. They pair well with all sorts of herby, spicy flavours, too. This is my take on that old favourite, carrot and coriander – the addition of summer spinach makes it particularly fresh and vibrant; at other times of year, it's good even without the greens. Serves four.
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp rapeseed, olive or sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 stem celery, chopped
500g carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
1 good pinch dried chilli flakes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
75g red lentils
100g spinach, tough stems removed, leaves shredded
4 good tbsp thick, plain yoghurt
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds, and toast for a few minutes, tossing often, until they smell warmly fragrant. Tip into a mortar, leave to cool, then using the pestle crush the spices to a coarse powder.
Put the oil into the saucepan over a medium heat, then add the onion, celery and carrots. Once sizzling, turn the heat to low, cover and sweat gently for about 10 minutes.
Add the ground spices to the pan, along with the chilli flakes and garlic, and cook for a minute or two. Add the lentils, then 500ml water and some salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, until the carrots are very tender and the lentils soft.
Purée the soup using a stick blender or a jug blender. Return to the heat and add the shredded spinach. Cook gently for just a minute or two, stirring often, until the spinach is wilted. Add a splash more water if the soup seems too thick. Season to taste, ladle into warmed bowls, top with a generous spoonful of yoghurt and serve.

Carrot and rhubarb juice (V)

I couldn't resist adding this delicious little recipe: if you've got a juicer, this is a fantastic way to use it. Make sure the veg is nice and cold from the fridge. Serves one.
3 large or 6 young carrots (about 300g in total)
1 medium stalk rhubarb
Just put the carrots and rhubarb through the juicer, stir and serve. I like to finish it off with a bruised sprig of mint.