A simple, delicious and slightly extravagant carrot side dish that can be prepared in advance and then heated up just before serving
For me, carrots are an essential with any roast and when it comes to Christmas I like a touch of luxury….so a little black truffle stirred through just before serving takes these up a notch! Below the recipe is a list of my favourite accompaniments for any roast dinner.
The combination of honey, parsley and butter is a classic one with carrots and I like to cook these together until they reduce and go sticky, which also enhances the flavour.
The truffle adds an extra depth of flavour which, if you love truffles (I do!) really make this dish shine. If you don’t like truffles, you can leave them out and you will still have a great carrot dish.
I use the black truffle paste (above) which might well be something of a luxury ingredient (ok – it is!), but a little goes a long way – and it lasts for ages. I often add it to a white sauce to make an insanely good cauliflower cheese.
Alternatively, a little truffle oil works well instead of the truffle paste – just don’t overdo it as too much will really kill the dish!
Recipe – my ultimate carrots: serves 4-6
- about 500g Chantenay carrots (or carrots of choice), either peeled or scrubbed
- 1 tablespoon runny honey
- a generous knob of unsalted butter
- salt
- pepper
- flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teasooon black truffle paste, optional
(1) Put the carrots into lightly salted boiling water and cook until they are only just tender: I like them to have a bit of bite still. Reserve the water for a gravy.
(2) In the same pan, add the butter and a little salt and pepper and heat until the butter just starts to sizzle. Add the carrots and stir them through for a minute or two before adding the honey. Let it cook together over a medium heat until the honey just starts to caramelise.
(3) Remove from the heat and stir in the truffle paste, if using, and parsley. You can either serve now or empty the carrots (plus any juices) into an oven-proof dish, cover with foil and set aside until needed: just pop in the oven to heat up, with another sprinkling of parsley. A little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper finishes these off nicely.
NB: you can keep the cooked carrots chilled for a couple of days if you want to get ahead and just heat up in the oven or in the suacepan before serving.
Other perfect accompaniments to a roast dinner
Yorkshire puddings: the secrets to perfect Yorkshire Puddings every time is here
For a fabulous Brussels sprouts dish: my perfect Brussels sprouts
For the very best roast potatoes every time: perfect roast potatoes
For the most delicous gravy to bring everything together: gravy
For the best pigs in blankets, glazed with honey and thyme and stuffed with apricots and cranberry sauce: pigs in blankets
For my favourite stuffing (inside the meat and/or cooked separately), which included herbs, apricots, nuts and sausagemeat: stuffing
Phil's Home Kitchen 