Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Rustic Roasted Carrots

Rustic Roasted Carrots

Roasted carrots, simply seasoned with salt and a buttery spread, make a vegan addition to your holiday or Spring table

Rustic Roasted Carrots | Farm Fresh Feasts



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Getting my family to eat cooked carrots can be a challenge.  Sure, they don't mind if I stretch our tacos or meatloaf with diced or shredded carrots.  Eating raw carrots as a vehicle to convey dip into the mouth is also no problem around these parts.  But every cooked carrot dish I've tried has been politely attempted and then untouched.  Until now.  This is too easy and too basic not to share.  I'm becoming enamored with side dishes that let the fresh flavor of the vegetables shine through--without overpowering sauces--and this is a good example of that.
I first made these carrots when I was overwhelmed with carrots from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, which is a testament to the wonderful soil our famers are creating.  When we first joined this CSA most of the carrots were stubby and deliciously sweet--not really useful for much in the way of a meal, but delicious to snack on.  After consistently amending the soil with a wide variety of organic materials, from manure and compost to donated straw and old hay, our farmers grow still delicious but now fat and long carrots, in large amounts. Which leads to me being overwhelmed with carrots.

Getting bulging bags of fat carrots each week--and not eating an entire bagful in between pick-ups--meant that our crisper was on carrot overload.  The composting guinea pig was thrilled with the tops and tips.  I saved out the largest carrots for eating raw.  I shredded and froze the smaller carrots for adding to all sorts of meals over the winter, like my Thai Turkey Cold Busting Hot and Sour Soup.  That left the medium sized carrots, and since I was roasting beets and radishes I figured I'd try roasting carrots, too.


I lined them up like I'd seen young carrots served at a restaurant in Atlanta in a previous life, gave them a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt, and secured them in a foil packet.  When it came time to serve, my daughter grabbed some parsley to tuck into the sides for the photo--but this pretty dish never made it to the table.  We ate this with our fingers while standing in the kitchen and called it our appetizer.    Then I had a hankering for it again--inspired by some marked down carrots at the grocery store.  This time I roasted them on a rimmed baking sheet. The results again never made it to the table--or even a serving tray! We ate them off the baking sheet. Simple.  Rustic.  Good.

Rustic Roasted Carrots | Farm Fresh Feasts



Since I had fun with HashtagOrangeWeek last month, where I shared a week's worth of recipes using the fresh Florida citrus from the Band Fruit Fundraiser, I thought I'd do it again.  With Easter coming up, I've decided to have HashtagCarrotWeek.  I'll start with this rustic side dish, continue on Friday with some sushi, and finish up the 'week' with muffins on Monday. So a week's worth of recipes using carrots, but stretched over more than a simple calendar week.  I wanted the savory squash pie linked up well before April Fool's day, you see.


For more recipes using carrots, please see my Carrot Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.


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Rustic Roasted Carrots | Farm Fresh Feasts
Rustic Roasted Carrots | Farm Fresh Feasts

Rustic Roasted Carrots

Ingredients


  • 1 pound carrots, scrubbed but not peeled if you don't want to mess around with that
  • 1-2 Tablespoons cooking oil (I use olive oil)
  • kosher salt, a healthy couple of pinches, plus more to taste
  • pepper, several grinds, plus more to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon butter or buttery spread
  • parsley, for a garnish, optional

Instructions


  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  
  2. In a large bowl, toss carrots with oil.  
  3. If using a foil packet, place carrots onto a sheet of foil, season with salt and pepper, and seal the packet before placing it on a rimmed baking sheet.  
  4. If you're skipping the foil packet, spread the oiled carrots onto the rimmed baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.  
  5. Bake fat carrots 30 to 40 minutes and thin carrots 20 to 30 minutes until tender.  
  6. Toss (same bowl if you like) with buttery spread or butter, taste one, and add additional salt and/or pepper if desired.  
  7. Eat out of the bowl or decorate with parsley and let me know if your carrots make it to the table.


25 comments:

  1. These just look gorgeous! And I'm sure the taste is there to back them up.

    http://acricketsang.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebekah,
      The taste is just amazing--something about food straight from the farm does it for me.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. It's true: roasting makes everything better. Well, that, and bacon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lydia,
      True dat about bacon! I'm still trying to wrap my head around roasting beets in the oven (wrapping in foil works like a charm, but isn't technically roasting in my Roasting cookbook) but the carrots--easy peasy.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  3. The last time I made Brussels sprouts, they never made it to the table either! Love how good and easy roasted vegetables are!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth,
      I need to roast a Kirsten-sized portion of Brussels sprouts, since I'm the one that would enjoy them the most. Thanks for the reminder, though in truth I'll need a re-reminder when I see a stalk of sprouts at Trader Joes in the Fall.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  4. I love carrots like this! I also only peel them if they are filthy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alyssa,
      My composting pig has amazing hearing, and will start wheeking when she hears the scrape of the vegetable peeler. Since carrots are particular favorites of hers, I will often peel a carrot or two to provide peelings for her, while scrubbing the rest. Or if we've been peeling potatoes and she hears it and gets all excited, I'll give her some carrot peels as a reward. I spoil pigs.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  5. It looks delicious! I would try it with a homemade garlic and yogurt sauce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elena,
      My sister in law makes a garlic and creme fraiche sauce that is wonderful with roasted potatoes. I can see how a homemade garlic and yogurt sauce would be a nice accompaniment to these carrots.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Your daughter has an eye for photos because the snips of parsley pop against the bright orange carrots. I need to try these, and I also need to try a Morrocan carrot dish my brother in law told me about. The secret is preserved lemon rind (I think?) so I need to find it and get on it stat. I love the recipe, but you've also given me ideas for how to freeze carrots as well. Thanks much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meghan,
      I've passed along your compliments to my daughter and she's pleased--thanks for that.
      I'm intrigued on Moroccan carrots--one of my fellow elementary school moms was from Morocco and she brought in yummy food to International Night. I'd roll out of the cafeteria tighter than a tick! Ah, memories of food . . .
      Thanks!

      Delete
  7. This recipe looks fantastic! Your photos are excellent. I especially love that you picked up some bargain carrots at the store. It's always nice to find new ways to cook old favorites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeanne,
      Thanks for your compliments! I admit I was pretty pleased how these photos captured the look I wanted to achieve--I'm still learning, but more and more there are fewer abysmal failures so that's good. As for bargain vegetables--if it's not from my CSA farm share, chances are good it will have a magical markdown sticker on it ;) . Tonight's pizza, for example, will be peppers and mushrooms on vodka sauce because, you guessed it, that was marked down at the store yesterday.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  8. Gorgeous!! Yeah, I can sympathize with your kids about the cooked carrots; I usually prefer them raw too, but these look amazing. Next week will be carrot week on my blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie,
      I'm glad you're doing carrot week--I've totally taken the idea of "week" from you, starting with hashtagorangeweek, though I don't have any current plans to go through all the vegetables.
      Deciding not to do a pizza Every. Single. Friday. has freed me up to post a wider variety of recipes, and I'm glad about that.
      I've been enjoying Asparagus week, so I'm looking forward to Carrot Week with you!

      Delete
  9. These carrots are gorgeous! Which isn't really something you would say, when talking about carrots, LOL. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy,
      I know, right? When I considered doing hashtagcarrotweek I was thinking that I usually just add carrots to a variety of entrees, and don't really showcase them on their own. After all the variety I've seen here and on Julie at Texan New Yorker's carrot week I'm thinking that the carrot is amazingly versatile.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  10. I don't know why, but I never think to roast carrots "with purpose" so to speak. I always use carrots and onions (and sometimes celery) instead of a rack under roasted chicken, etc., but I never think of them as their own separate thing. I usually eat them in salads, raw, etc. I'll have to start paying more attention to them. ;) [#TastyTuesdays]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris,
      Each year I find a new vegetable in my CSA farm share box to love just for itself. [Last year was beet greens, and I'm still kinda smitten with them I admit.] Until I had fresh local veggies, I never knew how tasty they could be--like celery! Amazing flavor.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  11. Thanks for bringing these colourful roasted carrots - they make me think of the Easter bunny. I love the green parsley which make all the difference in the presentation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hilda,
      My daughter was my food stylist for this photo, and I agree--she made these carrots look lovely.
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  12. My those carrots look good, I could eat them off the screen! I also like how you garnished the dish with parsley, they look like carrot tops, well, kind of! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Saved as a favorite, I really like your site!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello, just wanted to tell you, I enjoyed
    this post. It was funny. Keep on posting!

    ReplyDelete