My love affair with carrots
Winter is a time when fresh seasonal produce is a bit more limited. Fresh greens: cabbage, spinach, and kale all abound. But if we are honest, it can grow tiresome eating the same limited vegetables over and over again.
Why then do I never grow sick of carrots?
I could honestly eat them every day straight out of the garden. As a carrot lover I can say with certainty that there is something extra special about winter carrots. The sweetness, the crisp crunch, they are the jewel of any winter garden. Finding ways to prepare them that highlights that sweet earthiness, has been my mission this winter. I think I found a real winner in this recipe.
A few notes…
Please don’t skip the chopped spring onions (green onions). It may seem like “just a garnish”. But they are not in fact “just a garnish”. They are an essential part of the flavor profile and a needed contrast to the sweetly spiced buttery coating
Be sure to cut these into no bigger than 1 cm sticks.
You can roast full or half carrots and they will still be delicious, but this recipe is all about them getting soft and sticky. You want these carrots to roast long enough that the thinner edges and ends get a bit burned. That slight bitterness from the deep caramel edges will make these truly irresistible. Don’t be scared and pull them from the oven too early.
Make extra! I kid you not these will be impossible not to overeat. You can also add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like a bit of spice.
A special note on brown sugar…
If you are making any of my recipes, when I call for brown sugar I am referring to American brown sugar. This is my simple recipe you can mix up at home, in order to mimic what we would get in the USA as brown sugar. It is vastly different from South African brown sugar. If nothing else, it is worth mixing up a batch and storing it in your pantry for all your favorite cookie recipes. I assure you it will change the taste and texture of everything you bake. It is better for this recipe, but if you really don’t have the time to make some, then South African muscovado sugar would be the best bet. It will add the needed deep molasses flavor.
Caramelized Brown Sugar Carrots
Ingredients
- 600 grams carrots
- 60 grams melted butter
- 2 Tbsp raw honey
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2-3 Tbsp spring onions (chopped finely)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200℃. Mix melted butter, honey, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper in a bowl.
- Peel and chop the carrots into thick matchsticks, measuring about 1cm squared. Place carrots in a large bowl and pour all but 2 tablespoons of the butter mixture over the carrots and mix. The butter will solidify to some degree. This is just fine.
- Spread the carrots out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, flip the carrots half way through the cooking time so that they can caramelize on all sides.
- Remove from the oven and place on a serving platter. Drizzle the remaining butter mixture over the carrots. (If it solidified while the carrots were roasting, just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.)
- Sprinkle the carrots with the finely chopped green onions. This is essential! The combination of the caramelized carrots and the green onions adds a complexity that makes this dish a true winner.
- Enjoy!
[…] If you want to know what else to do with an overabundance of carrots, check out my caramelize brown sugar carrot recipe. […]