Sister Mary's Zesty Carrots Recipe - Food.com (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.

Sautéing is one of the healthiest ways to cook carrots.

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!

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.

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.

You don't want to soak them, you want to cook them. The prep and method of cooking will determine how long it will take to soften the carrots. Quickest: slice and boil in salted water; done in a few minutes. Best tasting: clean carrots, toss in oil and a little bit of salt.

Dill A delicious seasoning for cooked carrots. Ginger Add some fresh ginger to carrots when juicing for a great cleansing juice with a kick. Or try cooking the carrots in a little ginger beer for an unusual twist on boiled carrots. Honey A delicious and healthy glaze for carrots.

No matter which way you cook them, carrots are a healthy choice. Steaming is a slightly better pick since the carrots don't lose as many of their nutrients to the water. (Steaming is also more environmentally friendly since it uses less water.)

Are carrots healthier steamed or boiled? ›

At least, that is, if they're boiled or steamed. A January 2008 report in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry said that boiling and steaming better preserves antioxidants, particularly carotenoid, in carrots, zucchini and broccoli, than frying, though boiling was deemed the best.

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.

Third, don't overfill the pot. Water takes a long time to heat because of its high heat capacity. You'll save time and money by using just enough water. Note: It's recommended that you add root vegetables to cold water, but wait for a boil with others.

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.

This will allow them to rehydrate and become crunchy again. I recommend using filtered water so it doesn't have the items in it that tap water might contain, like chlorine. This tip will allow you to extend the shelf life of your carrots.