Sweet & Smoky Roasted Carrots
Dorie Greenspan
Photo by Ellen Silverman
- Serves
- 6
- Prep Time
- 10 Minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 Minutes
Excerpted with permission from Dorie Greenspan's Everyday Dorie:
If you love smoked paprika, the odds are high that you’ll love these carrots. They’re roasted in a hot oven after they’ve been rolled around in a mix of honey, vinegar, cumin, cayenne and smoked paprika, which I consider a magical ingredient. I use it for its deep, almost sexy flavor and think of its beautiful rusty color as a bonus. However, smoked paprika is only magical if it’s fresh. Give yours the once-over before you use it. Look at its color, which should be vibrant, then stir it or shake it and sniff — if it doesn’t smell rich and smoky, you’ll be disappointed in the dish.
Smoked paprika, which is also known as pimentón, can be either mild and sweet or picante (hot). I prefer to buy the sweet version and add cayenne or piment d’Espelette (see page 334) when I want some heat,
but experiment and see what you like.
The carrots are good hot, at room temperature or cold, making them as right for dinner as for a summer picnic.
If you have fresh carrots with their green tops, cut off the feathery tops but leave an inch or two of the green stems — they add to the dish’s simple good looks. Similarly, if their taproots are still attached, trim them so that they, too, are just an inch or so long.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (see headnote)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 pound (907 grams) carrots, scrubbed, trimmed (see headnote) and patted dry
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) plain Greek yogurt
Featured Video
Featured in: Dorie Greenspan's Easy Trick for Perfectly Seasoned Roast Vegetables Every Time and Our Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes. Excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2018 by Ellen Silverman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Directions
- Step 1
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a double layer of parchment paper.
- Step 2
Whisk the cider vinegar, paprika, salt, cumin and cayenne together. When the spices are dissolved, whisk in the oil and honey and taste for cayenne.
- Step 3
Arrange the carrots on the baking sheet, pour over about 1⁄3 cup of the spice syrup you just made and turn the carrots until they’re evenly coated. Set the remaining syrup aside.
- Step 4
Roast the carrots for 20 minutes, then flip them over, rotate the baking sheet and roast for another 20 to 30 minutes, until they are tender and browned — they might be a tad charred here and there and they’ll probably be a bit wrinkled, and it’s all good. Pull the sheet from the oven. (The carrots can be made ahead to this point and kept at room temperature for up to 6 hours.)
- Step 5
Stir a tablespoon of the leftover syrup into the yogurt, taste and add more, if you’d like. (The yogurt sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
- Step 6
Serve the carrots hot with the yogurt sauce spooned over them or spread under them as a base. Alternatively, cover the sauce and refrigerate it, then serve as a dipping sauce with the room-temperature carrots.
- Step 7
WORKING AHEAD: You can make the carrots up to 6 hours ahead and keep them at room temperature; the yogurt sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance. STORING: Leftover carrots can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.