One of my favorite recipes is crazy simple. Make roasted carrots using three ingredients: carrots, oil, and lemon juice.
Roasted carrots are my idea of candy. Not that I reserve this ritual for carrots alone. Roasting all kinds of fruits and vegetables is a complex chemical transformation that results in an amazing texture and flavor. The lower and slower you roast vegetables, the more tender they'll be throughout. For this recipe, I go a bit faster but not too fast.
I coat the carrots with the oil lemon juice mixture and then roast them from 40 to 50 minutes. Sometimes I add some aromatic spices and sweetness, like cinnamon or cardamom, but most of the time I keep it simple.
As for the roasting surface, I use either a non-stick mat or parchment paper. Because the Silpat and other non-stick mats tend to absorb odors of the food that has cooked on them I reserve one Siplat for all my savory roasting and the other for sweets.
You can eat these simply by spearing each carrot with a fork and muching down to the stem, or add a dressing and a bed of greens and enjoy it as a warm salad. For the dressing, I usually add the ranch dressing from my first cookbook. Feel free to use your favorite dressing, or whip up a small batch of lemony garlic yogurt dressing, tahini dressing, or maybe a creamy vinaigrette. Or just insert fork into carrot and eat.
To make a creamy vinaigrette, just add a tablespoon of dairy-free milk or yogurt to your favorite vinaigrette, or try this one.
Slow-Roasted Carrots
Ingredients
- 2 pounds carrots
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice about ½ lemon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C or gas mark 6).
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick mat.
- Place the carrots on the bakign sheet.
- Mix the oil and lemon juice together in a small bowl and brush it across the carrots, coating them.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the thickness of the carrots. Test the carrots by inserting a fork in the thickest part of one of the carrots.
Kim says
When you say roast what is the temp of the oven you recommend?
Jamie Toft says
This is a great recipe, thank you for sharing! I'm always looking for new ways to cook my veggies, and my boyfriend and I LOVED these! Please check out my blogpost about it 🙂
http://foodie-on-foot.blogspot.com/2013/03/roasted-carrots.html
Erica says
Thanks Jamie!
Renata Cantave says
I love carrots and this is a great recipe, will be trying tomorrow!
May says
This recipe looks fantastic. I just discovered rosemary roasted yams a few days ago and those were delicious. Carrots will definitely have to be the next try.
Great website. The more I look into healthier cooking options, the more people I find who, like you, care about their health and the health of their family. Your website is one I will be coming back to!
Erica says
Thanks! Veggies are the best 🙂
Sandhya says
I love the simplicity of your recipes....Thank you for sharing them. Congratulations for the book! I am sure it will become a popular cooking book!
Amy says
I made these the other night and they were sooooo goood! We ate them for lunch the next day too. I also just pre-ordered your cookbook and I seriously can't wait. It will be so nice to have the recipes in a book rather than the zillion pages I print out of your recipes all the time.
I go to your site every day for great food. We have such a variety of allergies in our home, and I KNOW that I can make every one of your recipes and they will be good!
Erica says
Thanks Amy! This is one of my weekly eats so I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I do 🙂 Just fyi, my book is mostly new recipes, so I'm afraid you better hold on to those printed pages.