Sunday, June 5, 2011

roasted carrots

if you don't like cooked carrots, let me change your mind...

i cook these for adventure weekends and every single time i make these (and i am not kidding on this, literally, every time), i get at least one leader begging me for how i made them.  i don't like cooked vegetables (love them raw though), and i will eat these, and if you know me in the real world and have ever experienced my foodiness in person, then you know, this is serious.


what you need:
carrots
garlic powder
salt (i use kosher, the flake type)
coarse black pepper
oil (i use the 75/25 of canola/olive)

the pictures i am about to show you is about 20 lbs of carrots, so my dusting of spices is going to be much more than yours, but it is the same concept.

i was taught this "diamond" cut for carrots last year and i just recently really understood how to actually do it. but as long as you chunk the carrots into nice bite sized pieces, any which way is fine, but i am going to try to describe the way we do it.  it is pretty much creating a pencil point as you chop down the carrot.
you cut the small end of the carrot at an angle.  on the cutting board, place the carrot straight across.  imagine the top of the cutting board as north, your knife should cut the carrot as if was a line from NW to SE (or a 45 degree angle)
turn the carrot towards you so the flat oval you just created with that slice is facing up.  slice the carrot at the same angle, where the closest side of the oval will be sliced in the middle, like this ( \  )
when you turn the carrot towards you again, the oval is now going to be pointed, you want the arrow you've created to be pointing NE.  now that the oval doesn't exist and it is now a semi-oval, you pretty much have to imagine the full oval there and keep cutting like described above.
i know, it is complicated, it took me a long time to generally get it down.  but it is really easy once you actually get the flow of it and understand how to do it.

ok, the actual process...
p.s.  i don't peel the carrots.
chunk them, throw them in a bowl, but not too full you cannot stir them well (2-3 inches under rim depending on how many carrots you have).  pour a generous amount of oil on the carrots (excess just sits at bottom of bowl, and then ends up greasing the pan for you).  they should look glossy once you stir them.
dust the top with garlic powder like i have on the left there.  again, that bowl has about 20 lbs of carrots in it, is 2 feet wide and 5 inches deep, so that is my generous dusting to that large serving.  a good way to gage it is enough is if, once it is stirred and the powder has been absorbed into the oil, you can still smell garlic if you get close to the carrots (if you smell it without being near the bowl, it may be too much). with the salt, you want to do the same (right) get a good coat on the top, then stir.  with the coarse black pepper you want to watch it, if you add too much, it will be really spicy and if you are trying to get kids to eat these, then that won't do it.  you basically want the carrots to look freckled once you are done.

this is how they should look to head into the oven

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

use a pan with an edge so the oil doesn't run over the sides.

no need for oil as it won't stick.  may want to line the pan with foil to make for easy clean up.

roast in oven for about an hour or until the core of the carrots starts to turn yellow and the edges turn brown and dark brown.

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