Sautéed Carrots with Sage Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the most flavor out of carrots? ›

Cooking instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, then add the carrots and parsnips and toss to coat in the oil. Add the thyme, cinnamon, star anise and some seasoning. Cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, turning the vegetables frequently, until golden brown and almost cooked through.

Place them in a steamer, sprinkle with a little salt and steam for about 7 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a skewer but still retaining some firmness and bite. Serve plain, or I like them tossed in butter mixed with some chopped fresh tarragon leaves.

#1 Roasted

This is our CSA members' favorite way to enjoy our farm's fresh carrots. Slice or keep them whole if baby sized and toss with salt and pepper as your most basic preparation, or optionally add garlic, dill or honey to change it up. Roast on a baking sheet at 400 degrees until tender. So, so, so sweet!

It works best if you add the carrots along with the food you're frying. Otherwise, the carrots might shrivel up and burn before whatever you're frying is finished. You might have to switch out the carrots in between batches of food—again, to avoid burning the carrots and thus defeating the purpose of the tip.

Peeling carrots before cooking or eating is reflexive for most people, but is it necessary? The truth is, no, you don't have to peel carrots. You can, but it's certainly not a requirement, especially if you give this root vegetable a proper scrubbing.

Scrub, trim, peel (if desired) and cut carrots into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cook in a small amount of boiling water, covered, until tender-crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. Drain; toss with butter and finely chopped fresh herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Scrub and trim the carrots, leaving a little of the green tops on. Parboil in a pan of boiling salted water for 5 minutes, then drain and tip into a large roasting tray. Drizzle over 1 tablespoon of oil, season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then toss to coat and roast for 1 hour.

Place the carrots in a large, wide pan and just cover with cold water. Add a good pinch of sea salt and a pinch of black pepper, the clementine juice (you can use oranges instead, if you prefer), vinegar and butter. Bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes, or until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

Sugar: Combined with butter, sugar is the secret to a glaze and it enhances the naturally sweet taste of the carrots. As the water in the pan reduces, dissolved sugar molecules concentrate to form a light syrup that binds with the melted fat, creating a delicious pan sauce.

Why do my carrots have no flavor? ›

Even the most seasoned home gardeners deal with crop failures from time to time. The reason homegrown carrots lack a sweet, earthy flavor is due to terpenoids that become overpowering when carrots are harvested too soon or grown in excessively hot temperatures.

There are a few possibilities for why your carrots aren't as sweet as they should be. You are right to think about your soil--a crop of carrots can deplete a soil of nutrients. Be sure to rotate crops in your garden, rather than planting carrots in the same place year after year.

Carrots maturing under warm temperatures or high moisture conditions lack good root color. These carrots also have poor flavor and texture.

Instead of simply tossing carrots in the vegetable drawer, take a few minutes to cut off the greens and submerge the carrots in water. You'll be rewarded with carrots that stay crisp for weeks, not days.