Peppered Carrots and Dill

 

These are basic on purpose, given the robustness of the rest of the meal. These can be roasted on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven at 425° until tender, but I like cooking them in a skillet so they get tender without color, staying somewhat…juicy (strange adjective for a carrot, but it’s true), somewhere between a steam and a saute. Save the carrot tops if you’re able– they taste like carrot flavored parsley and should be used just like parsley (coarsely chopped, scattered over the carrots with wild abandon). If you don’t have tops, use parsley.

YIELD — 6-8 servings

 

Ingredients

  • 2–2 ½ pounds small to medium carrots, a few sprigs of the tops reserved if you can (I don’t peel my carrots but you can if you like)

  • ¼ cup chicken fat or duck fat, olive oil, or ½ stick / 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (the coarser the better)

  • Kosher salt

  • 1 cup coarsely chopped dill, from about 1 small bunch, plus more

Directions

1. Slice carrots into 2”–3” long pieces. For any carrots on the thicker side, cut (or quarter) in half lengthwise. Point being you want all carrots to have roughly the same size/shape so they cook evenly. If you’d rather just slice all carrots into ½” thick coins, you can do that, too! 

2. Melt the fat of your choosing in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pepper and let sizzle 30–45 seconds or so, just to bloom the peppercorns, making the most of their spicy aroma. Add carrots and season with salt. Cook, stirring or tossing occasionally, until carrots are just tender but still have a little bite to them, 6–8 minutes. 

3. Remove from heat, add dill (plus some reserved carrot tops, if you’ve got) and toss to coat (there should be a lot of dill. If it looks shy on dill, please, add more dill). Transfer carrots to a serving bowl and top with more spriggy dill and a few spriggy carrot tops, if you like. 

DO AHEAD: Carrots are best made before serving, but depending on what fat you use, you may want to give them a brief rewarm as some fats can congeal at room temperature.

newsletter, vegetablesAlison RomanComment