Chef Matthew Evans from Fat Pig Farm shares his delicious, naturally sweet, rich carrot dish which is perfect for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. "You can flavour the béchamel sauce with cardamom or other spices but I like the true taste of fresh picked carrot coming through unadorned."

• 800g carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
• 400ml milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 50g butter
• 1 large brown onion, peeled and finely diced
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• pinch ground cloves or grated nutmeg
• salt and freshly-milled black pepper
• 1 egg

• 100g coarse fresh breadcrumbs

Steam the carrots until quite soft and mash to a rough paste using a potato masher. While the carrots cook, make a white sauce by heating the milk with the bay leaf until nearly boiling, turning off and letting it steep while you make a roux. A roux is a butter and flour mixture used for thickening.

Melt the butter in a 1 litre saucepan over a low flame and fry the onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir quickly with a wooden spoon so it combines well with no lumps. Keep stirring while this flour mixture fries a bit for a minute.

Reheat the milk and add it a ladleful at a time to the flour mixture, stirring the whole time and re-boiling between additions (discard the bay leaf rather than adding it to the sauce). If it goes lumpy, give it a vigorous whisk. When this white sauce has had all the milk added, make sure it simmers one last time then remove from the heat. Cool it slightly then add the pinch of ground cloves then stir into the carrot mixture with the egg and salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon into 2 litre baking dish or casserole and sprinkle with breadcrumbs (you can toss the crumbs in oil or butter if you like, but the pudding is already rich).

Bake at 170ºc; for about 30-40 minutes or until the crumbs are browned and the pudding hot right through. Serve with other things, or as a meal with a light salad on the side.

Matthew Evans, Fat Pig Farm (Huon Valley, Tasmania, Australia)