roasted carrots with whipped ricotta & pistachio gremolata
+ thoughts on the hardest / most rewarding part of my job
The reality of surviving as a small farmer in 2025 means having a diversity of revenue streams. And so, being the wildly business savvy woman that I am (ha!), over the years I’ve developed three prongs in my business: 1) selling vegetables through our CSA and restaurants, 2) this newsletter, and 3) hands-on cooking classes.
Without question, teaching cooking classes requires the most work/energy – between the detailed prep, leading the actual class, and then cleaning it all up, it’s a really heavy lift for one person (especially with two toddlers running around). But! Hands-down, these workshops are also where I get the most inspired.
Last Saturday, I had a group of 10 folks come out to the farm for my Growing & Cooking with Herbs workshop, and it reminded me why I love my job. When I pulled a carrot out of the ground in front of everyone, there was an audible gasp... I don’t think anyone had seen a carrot get harvested before, and it low key blew their minds. And when everyone got to pick sweet sugar snap peas straight off the plant and into their mouth? It was a full-on revelation.
Together we harvested tender herbs + veggies, learned knife skills, and made several herb-filled dishes, culminating in a beautiful meal together at picnic tables surrounded by flowers in our perennial garden.
This is why I do this work. It is so freaking hard and takes every ounce of my energy, but it's pretty damn special to see the literal joy on people's faces when they get to see how food is grown, pick it themselves, learn to wield a knife confidently, and then sit down and enjoy one of the freshest meals they will ever eat.
In other news… this week felt like we lived in a legit tropical rainforest. I think we got 4 inches of rain over the course of 72 hours? Everything is growing at warp speed (weeds included) and I’m hustling with my team with keep up with harvesting all the spring goodness, while also getting the rest of our summer veggies in the ground. If all goes to according to plan (and let’s be honest, it probably won’t), by this time next week we’ll have our corn and winter squash planted, along with a second succession of cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes.
The veggies certainly didn’t mind the all the rain, and this week’s box was our most vibrant yet, jam-packed with everyone’s favorite spring veggies like carrots, sugar snap peas, fresh lettuce, scallions, fennel, etc.
PS - local friends, I just posted the veggie box available for pickup next Tuesday (May 20th), here’s the link to place your order!
A reminder that if you have any gardening or cooking related questions, I’m here to help! Send in your questions on our private community HELP LINE, where I’ll always personally answer within 24 hours. There’s no question too big or small. :)
Okay, time to get cooking and dig into this week’s new recipe – roasted carrots with whipped ricotta and pistachio gremolata – available for paid subscribers.
As I alluded to earlier, pulling fresh carrots from the ground is a pretty magical experience, so when I have beautiful carrots to cook with (aka right now), I’m committed to honoring them and making sure they really SHINE.
This recipe for roasted carrots with whipped ricotta and pistachio gremolata (lol try saying that three times fast) is my current fixation, and I haven’t been this excited to share a new recipe in a long time. You’ve got simple roasted carrots (sliced in half lengthwise, for ultimate *drama*) over a bed of creamy/salty/lemony whipped ricotta, all topped with a bright/punchy/crunchy pistachio gremolata… Y’ALL IT IS SO GOOD.
(Side note – gremolata is just a fancy name for the traditional Italian combo of chopped parsley, lemon, and garlic… it takes just a few minutes to whip up, and it’s a flavor bomb that might just change your life).
And while there are technically three separate elements in this dish, please hear me when I say that all of those components are incredibly simple and straightforward, each containing only 4 ingredients. This is one of those unicorn recipes that’s easy enough to whip up on a busy weeknight (especially if you prep the whipped ricotta and/or gremolata ahead of time), but it’s absolutely special enough to make as the show pony for your next dinner party.
Keep reading for the full recipe (and a handy 1-page PDF for easy printing).
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Roasted Carrots with Whipped Ricotta & Pistachio Gremolata
Serves 4