Oat bran and carrot spread

[spacedlaw]

Rillettes de carottes au son d' avoine.

I got myself a whole bunch of cook books from Larousse and one of them is dedicated to oat bran, a product which has become extremely trendy in France, due to its healthy properties - in particular for those who diet.



This recipe further caught my eyes because I adore carrots and cannot get enough of the stuff. And the spread is also based on fresh cheese.


Well...
Actually the recipe calls for cumin, which I like but my love abhors, so I left that out (you can always sprinkle some on your tartine at a later stage) and replaced it by piment d'Espelette, a mild but fragrant chili pepper.

And the recipe is calling from fromage blanc, which can't be found in Italy so I have substituted this by ricotta, which has to be the lightest fresh cheese of all.

200 g carrots
2 tblsp oat bran
juice of 1 lemon
150g ricotta
salt, pepper
Powdered piment d'Espelette

Grate the carrots and steam for roughly 10 minutes.
In a bowl, combine bran and lemon juice, add the fresh cheese and carrots, salt, pepper and piment and stir until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
Chill for at least an hour.

Spread on crackers or toasted bread, or use to stuff things like rolls of ham, crêpes, or salad leaves.
You can add all sorts of spices (cumin or coriander seeds) and herbs to the spread, like coriander leaves or chives.