Carrot Puffs, A Tasty Side Dish

 A few weeks ago at the Palace I made a dish called Carrot or Parsnip Puffs, from Elizabeth Smith's "The Compleat Housewife."  Here's a picture and the recipe:

Scrape and boil your carrots and parsnips tender; then scrape or mash them very fine, add to it a pint of pulp, the crumb of a penny loaf grated, or some stale bisket, if you have it, some eggs, but four whites, a nutmeg grated, some orange-flower water, sugar to your taste, a little sack and mix it up with thick cream; they must be fried in rendered suet, the liquor very hot when you put them in: put in a good spoonful in a place.

Yum, right?!  These won't actually *puff* so don't worry if your attempt looks more like a carrot hushpuppy or a carrot patty than a carrot beignet.  You are doing it right.  So, to start, get some carrots.  I think I used about six large carrots and that made quite a few puffs-- perhaps enough for between 5-7?  A penny loaf is basically a dinner roll, so grate a dinner roll for that part; a French roll would be the best kind of bread to use.  Don't worry about the "pint of pulp."

First, scrape and cut your carrots, boil them until soft, then mash them.  Add in the breadcrumbs, eggs (use only two or three), nutmeg to taste (2 tsp?), sugar to taste (perhaps 1/3 cup?), optional bit of orange-flower water (a tsp?), optional bit of sherry (a couple tablespoons?), then-- once you have the mixture tasting how you like it-- fry them in vegetable oil, butter, or lard!  Carrot puffs make a very tasty vegetable side dish for any meal.

Although, it's bit like fried carrot cake. This might be good with a cream cheese icing... hmm...