When I was growing up, my parents never, ever served cooked carrots for dinner. Nor were they even mentioned as a possible vegetable option. They were occasionally included in soups or stews but that was more for color. So of course when I became a parent, I didn’t serve them either. Mushy poorly seasoned carrots always sounded disgusting to me.
Then last summer a good friend gave me a generous amount of carrots from her garden. I ate one raw. Delicious! But I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat them all raw, so I went through my library of cookbooks searching for a cooked carrot recipe I thought I could tolerate. Unfortunately, most of the recipes included the use of some form of sweetener such as maple syrup. I don’t care for sugary vegetables. Finally I found one that was savory and decided to try it out. It was great, really great. So good, in fact, that I ended up eating almost all the entire recipe of about a pound of carrots just by myself.
Raw carrots ready for preparation. (Photo by Patty Schied)
When I made them again last week, I tweaked the recipe so that there was a lot more garlic. Roasted garlic lovers out there, this is for you.
This recipe is for two people. Double it if you are feeding any more. There won’t be any carrots left.
Ingredients (for two people)
1 bunch of carrots (about a pound) peeled and halved lengthwise
About 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper
¼ cup water
Ingredients for braised carrots with garlic and thyme. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Heat olive oil in an oven-proof skillet big enough to hold all the carrots (about 10 or 12 inches) until it just begins to smoke. Add the carrots, cut side down and cook until they just begin to brown. Turn them so that they are brown on all sides, being careful not to burn them. Add butter and cook until just melted.
Remove pan from heat. Add salt, pepper, garlic, thyme and ¼ cup water to pan, cover tightly in foil and place in oven. If the carrots are very thick they can take up to 20 minutes to cook through. My thin ones were done in 10 minutes.
Remove foil and continue roasting until edges are slightly crisp and the water has evaporated.
Serve hot. The garlic cloves will be very soft. Great smashed and eaten with a bite of carrot.
I never thought I would ever look forward to eating carrots. What an unexpected pleasure.
• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London, has cooked meals for both AWARE and the Glory Hall, and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in Capital City Weekly.
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