Kortni’s Kitchen: Carrots
The other day while I was watching Movable Feast, the host mentioned these delectable carrots he makes. They looked so good, I just had to try my hand at them. I never knew carrots could be so good. I have always been a fan, but these carrots definitely are the way I will be making them from now on!
Ingredients:
6-8 carrots
1 tsp chili flakes
½ cup almonds
1 tsp paprika
½ cup + 4TBS butter
Balsamic vinegar + 1 orange + honey
Directions:
1. Set oven to 350 degrees. Cut your carrots. They can either be cut into rounds or long. No matter which way, make sure they are all the same size roughly. I cut mine long ways and try to make them all roughly the size of my pinky finger in length and width. Put them in a dish with the 4TBS butter broken up and laid on top.
Kortni’s Kitchen: Carrots
Make sure you don’t put them in too small a dish. They will cook better if they are not all stacked up on top of one another. You can always transfer them into something smaller once you serve them.
2. Once the oven is ready, put the carrots in the oven to bake. It should take 45 minutes to get the carrots nice and roasted. It may be a little less time if you do the carrots in rounds. If you want to check, you can put a fork in them.
Just like a baked potato, you can check a carrot’s doneness by how easily a fork goes into it. If it slides right through, then it is done. If it gets stuck, leave the carrots in a while longer.
The reason you want all of the carrots the same size is so they all are cooked through at the same time.
3. While the carrots are cooking, get the sauce together. If you have whole almonds, they need a rough chop to them. Next get your balsamic ready. Mix 1 orange juiced, 3TBS honey, and ½ cup balsamic vinegar. This may make a little more than you will need, but it would be great over a side of salad as well.
Kortni’s Kitchen: Carrots
If you want to make it even easier, you can buy chopped almonds instead of whole.
When it comes to the balsamic dressing, I made my own, but if you want to buy one then that is fine. I looked for one online and could not find any. You just need any honey, citrus balsamic. Since it was so easy to make, I didn’t look too hard for a pre-made one.
Kortni’s Kitchen: Carrots
4. For this last step, you want to wait until the carrots are completely done. First, brown the ½ cup of butter. Make sure you get a nice, nutty aroma and a nice, brown hew. Once this is done, take the butter off the heat and add the 1/2 cup balsamic sauce, paprika, and chili flakes. It will make a little steam. That is no problem; it’s just the hot butter mixing with the balsamic. Give it a quick stir. Once everything is mixed, drizzle over the carrots. Then sprinkle the almonds on top and serve.
Make sure you don’t make the sauce too early, or the balsamic and butter will separate. I learned this the hard way.
I decided I needed to share these succulent carrots with as many people as I could, so for our last family gathering I made them. I doubled the batch, and they were all eaten up. My whole family loved them. It went perfectly with our homemade pasta.
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