Carrot and Ginger Loaf

It said in the newspaper last week, that ‘even cooks don’t always cook’ and I guess this may be true; there are days when you cannot cook because you have lots to do and you end up standing at the sink scoffing cheese and biscuits while the kettle boils. There are times when all you want is the time to finish reading a book or watch a film that you have been meaning to watch for ages and that is when eating and cooking become unimportant.  There are other times when you cannot cook because you have nothing to cook with, like when you come home and someone has raided the fridge. So what do you do then? Do you rush out to the shops or do you scrape bits and ends to make something out of nothing?

Last Saturday was one of those days. I had just come back from a ten-day trip away, when my daughter calls to say that she is on her way home from university. Now, you have to understand that I always panic when my kids come home for I am suddenly projected back to years ago when I used to have afternoon snacks and dinners ready on a daily basis. I was over zealous in that department a because I was convinced that if my kids did not eat a home-cooked meal, they would shrivel up and die. Life and experience has shown me otherwise. Despite all my acquired wisdom, I started scouring the fridge and cupboards for food. I found a few wilted carrots and a knob of ginger, so decided to make carrot and ginger loaf. This, I thought, would buy me some time before dinner…

Moist Carrot and Ginger Loaf

250 carrots, grated                                              

150 g flour

120 ml rapeseed oil

200 g brown sugar

2 cm knob fresh ginger, grated

80 g crystallised ginger, chopped

80 g walnuts, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes
22 cm loaf tin

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
2. Place eggs and sugar in a mixer with the beater attachment and beat until fluffy and creamy.
3. Add flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and oil. Keep mixing gently.
4. Add carrots, grated and crystalized ginger as well as chopped walnuts and combine with a spoon.
5. Oil and flour a 22 cm loaf tin.
6. Fill with the batter.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until you insert a stick and it comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool on a rack before turning out.