This is really a very pared down version of Marcus Wareing’s recipe in One Perfect Ingredient. I’ve owned this book for ages and I love it. I’ve also been looking at this recipe for ages and never got around to making it. Either we have the coriander but not the carrots, or vice versa.

It turned out that we had plenty of both in the fridge and I thought this would be a brilliant way of feeding the baby carrot.

I was in a bit of a hurry (a small person was watching me, and dinner time was fast approaching) so I used just the outline of Wareing’s recipe. If he were to read what follows, he wouldn’t recognise it!

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C normal).

Begin by grating one large (peeled) carrot. I used the Magimix for this – you get carrot that’s like very fine spaghetti. Put the carrot in a frying pan with a generous splash of water (add more as necessary) and cook until the carrot softens and the water has evaporated. I also added some very finely grated ginger.

For the one large carrot I used 2 eggs and a handful of chopped coriander. Whisk the eggs, add the coriander and pepper to taste. When the carrots are done, tip into the egg and coriander and mix well (and quickly – you don’t really want the egg to start cooking). Pour into a baking paper lined baking dish (mine was about 20cm x 10cm) and bake for 15-20 minutes, until set. Serve immediately (or allow to cool, if serving to a baby!).

Even this very quick and dirty version of the recipe tasted pretty good. If I’d been eating it I would have had to add salt and more pepper, but the slight spiciness of the ginger with the sweetness of the carrot worked well. The coriander adds some much needed colour variation to the dish (even so, it looks very orange!) and the egg makes it filling enough for a quick snack.

Now I really do need to try out the proper recipe!