Happy New Year, everyone! I’m a little late back to this space, and a lot has happened in the meantime. I kicked off 2018 in the OR having follow-up surgery to last summer’s corrective jaw extravaganza, so I now find my head bundled tightly in the familiar gauze bandage packed with ice, looking at 4 weeks of pureed food ahead of me. I’m not very jazzed about the diet but trying to look on the bright side in that January is a much better time to enjoy hot soups every day than June was. Also, winter sneak attacked the east coast and we’re having a blizzard (a bomb cyclone?) today.
My mom is cooking me Marcela Hazan’s soups (the incredible smothered cabbage and rice soup, a favorite of mine, and her minestrone) and I’m daydreaming about eating crunchy snacks and baking, which is usually what I’d be doing on a snowy day like today. I’ve also dragged myself upright and out of my third nap of the day to bring you this recipe for carrots that I’ve completely fallen in love with, which sounds dramatic when it comes to carrots, but is true, and I think you’ll see why.
Most people are into raw carrots covered in hummus or some delicious onion dip, but cooked carrots are on a lot of people’s vegetable blacklist. I think it probably brings back memories for a lot of us of the buttered vegetable medley, featuring mushy carrots and peas, that didn’t do either of those vegetables favors reputation-wise. But I think roasted carrots – lightly browned and sweet – could make a Brussels sprouts-style comeback thanks to recipes like this one.
Here, your humble bundle or bag of carrots is sliced and roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and cumin seeds. They’re then drizzled with a sweet-tart honey and lemon dressing and roasted a bit more until they’re sticky and delicious, at which point you’ll remove them, let them cool just slightly and top with crumbled goat cheese, chopped dill and nigella seeds. It’s like eating candy with just the right savory notes, and it’s the perfect side to your next cozy winter meal.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. 10 oz. (750g) carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch thick slices
- Olive oil
- 1 1/2 heaped tablespoons cumin seeds
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 1/2 oz. (100g) soft goat cheese
- 1 bunch of dill, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- Good sprinkling of nigella seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the carrot pieces on the baking sheet and drizzle with a good amount of olive oil. Sprinkle over the cumin seeds, sprinkle well with sea salt and black pepper, and, using your hands, give everything a thorough mix to ensure the cumin, oil and seasoning evenly coats the carrots. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the carrots are cooked through.
- Mix the lemon juice and honey together until evenly dissolved. Remove the carrots from the oven, drizzle the honey-lemon dressing over them and carefully toss them (using appropriate utensils) to ensure the dressing coats the carrots well. Roast for a further 8-10 minutes, or until the carrots are slightly sticky.
- Remove the carrots from the oven and arrange them on a flat plate. Crumble the goat cheese liberally over the roots, then sprinkle the chopped dill over them, followed by the nigella seeds.
Notes
From Persiana
