When we think of carrots we think of Bugs Bunny cartoons. Some of us might think about cake. Others reminisce to a college trip to Italy and the carrot-orange juice they would have after waking up in Rome. Few would see carrots and think of a hard-working, oft-overlooked vegetable. Carrots are just that. Not glamorous. Not trendy. Carrots are rustic. Carrots are the food that's always there.
Carrots, however, are more than just that staple. Originally they were not even grown for their roots - the orange food we eat today - but rather for their aromatic leaves. This is still the case for its cousins, parsley, fennel, and cumin today. Carrots also help other vegetables. They are the good Samaritans of the garden. When planted along with tomatoes, tomato production increases and if carrots are left to flower, the wasps it attracts kill garden pests.
We need to show some respect to our orange friends. I recently celebrated an impromptu carrot appreciation day, and the result was a tasty side to a weeknight chicken dinner. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
6 baby carrots
2 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp yogurt butter
1 tsp sea salt
1. Trim the leaves off the carrots. If desired, leave a bit of leaf on top if you plan on roasting the carrots whole. Otherwise trim the ends of the carrots and quarter them.
2. Chop the fresh cilantro and thyme. Mix the herbs and sea salt in with the yogurt butter.
3. Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Add the carrots to a baking pan and spread the herbed butter over them evenly and lightly. If you have leftover butter after coating set it aside.
4. Add the carrots to the oven and let it cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Every 5 minutes, take the carrots out and move them around so they brown evenly. When you remove them to serve, they should not be too soft, but have some 'snap' left in them.
5. Let the carrots cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
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