Carrots might quite possibly be my favorite vegetable. They go with just about any kind of sauce you can come up with. They can be sweet with brown sugar and honey, or they can be steamed with some fresh basil leaves for a little savory flavor. They can go in cakes, they can go in stews, they can go in bread. They can be eaten as finger food. Here, there or anywhere, carrots are just good.
Unfortunately, The Best Friend hates carrots. And I can already hear her saying “I will not eat them, Sam I Am”. Once, after she insisted that she liked parsnips, I gave her a bite of the ones I had just finished cooking. She immediately accused me of sneaking a carrot into her mouth. She dislikes carrots SO MUCH that even a vegetable that only vaguely has a carrot-taste makes her rinse her mouth with vinegar and water. And then a glass of wine.
But you know what? The Best Friend admitted that she could eat these carrots. IF – and it’s a big IF – they were cut in very small pieces and thoroughly covered in the glaze and a little over-cooked.
If that doesn’t tell you how good these carrots are, then I am out of words.
For now.
Warning: I didn’t measure anything here – this was part of The Original Redhead's b’day dinner, and I didn’t bother to pull out measuring spoons and write my ingredients list down. So the following list is just an estimate. I’m positive about the two pounds of carrots, though, because I bought a 2 pound bag.
Glazed Carrots
2 pounds of carrots, scraped and cut in 2” pieces
1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2” piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
½ tsp ground ginger
3 tsp balsamic vinegar, divided
2 tsp honey
¼ cup soy sauce (low sodium) + some to taste
Put the olive oil and ginger in a medium skillet. Turn the heat on medium low and heat slowly, letting the ginger flavor the oil. After about 4 or 5 minutes, add the carrots and toss to coat them in the oil. Add half of the vinegar and all of the honey and soy sauce to the middle of the pan and stir to combine. Start stirring in the carrots until they are coated. Turn the heat up to medium, cover the pan and walk away for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle in the ground ginger, give the carrots a stir, cover and walk away for another 10-15 minutes. By then, your carrots will be softening – now you just cook them til they’re as done as you like. The longer you cook, the stickier and glazy-er the sauce will get. I wanted my carrots pretty soft, so when my sauce got too thick, I added the rest of the vinegar to de-glaze it as much as possible, then another few dashes of soy sauce because I like soy sauce.
Notes:
I meant to make these in sesame oil instead of olive oil, but I had left it at home. It would have added soooooo much!
You could easily use baby carrots here, but since I found out that baby carrots are the exact same thing as regular carrots, just cut into small pieces and made to look baby-ish, I stopped buying them. That means a little more prep work to use them, though.
Unfortunately, The Best Friend hates carrots. And I can already hear her saying “I will not eat them, Sam I Am”. Once, after she insisted that she liked parsnips, I gave her a bite of the ones I had just finished cooking. She immediately accused me of sneaking a carrot into her mouth. She dislikes carrots SO MUCH that even a vegetable that only vaguely has a carrot-taste makes her rinse her mouth with vinegar and water. And then a glass of wine.
But you know what? The Best Friend admitted that she could eat these carrots. IF – and it’s a big IF – they were cut in very small pieces and thoroughly covered in the glaze and a little over-cooked.
If that doesn’t tell you how good these carrots are, then I am out of words.
For now.
Warning: I didn’t measure anything here – this was part of The Original Redhead's b’day dinner, and I didn’t bother to pull out measuring spoons and write my ingredients list down. So the following list is just an estimate. I’m positive about the two pounds of carrots, though, because I bought a 2 pound bag.
Glazed Carrots
2 pounds of carrots, scraped and cut in 2” pieces
1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2” piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
½ tsp ground ginger
3 tsp balsamic vinegar, divided
2 tsp honey
¼ cup soy sauce (low sodium) + some to taste
Put the olive oil and ginger in a medium skillet. Turn the heat on medium low and heat slowly, letting the ginger flavor the oil. After about 4 or 5 minutes, add the carrots and toss to coat them in the oil. Add half of the vinegar and all of the honey and soy sauce to the middle of the pan and stir to combine. Start stirring in the carrots until they are coated. Turn the heat up to medium, cover the pan and walk away for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle in the ground ginger, give the carrots a stir, cover and walk away for another 10-15 minutes. By then, your carrots will be softening – now you just cook them til they’re as done as you like. The longer you cook, the stickier and glazy-er the sauce will get. I wanted my carrots pretty soft, so when my sauce got too thick, I added the rest of the vinegar to de-glaze it as much as possible, then another few dashes of soy sauce because I like soy sauce.
Notes:
I meant to make these in sesame oil instead of olive oil, but I had left it at home. It would have added soooooo much!
You could easily use baby carrots here, but since I found out that baby carrots are the exact same thing as regular carrots, just cut into small pieces and made to look baby-ish, I stopped buying them. That means a little more prep work to use them, though.
2 comments:
I'm not in the slightest carrot opposed - I just wish I had seen this recipe yesterday - it would have gone really well with my moroccan chicken!
Carrots are my favorite cooked veggie. I'll try this recipe, sans ginger. I am not a ginger fan.
And t hanks for the heads up on the baby carrot conspiracy. ;)
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