Help me use up these carrots!

November 8, 2008 12:51 PM

I got a boatload of carrots from our farm pick-up today. Aside from eating them as-is or making carrot muffins or cake, all worthy uses, I'd like a recipe for cooking them into a side dish. The catch - I've never liked cooked carrots much. Do you have a recipe for something carrot-y that is so divine that I could never not eat it? Please share.
posted by missuswayne to food & drink (40 answers total)

1 T butter
2 T orange marmalade
stir together -- heat via micrwave is fine

pour over steamed carrots -- yum!
posted by peace_love_hope at 12:59 PM on November 8, 2008

This time of year I always end up with too much cabbage, carrots and apples.

I love making a cold cabbage salad with them

shred cabbage (red + green)
shred carrots
cut up apples into slices
walnuts
raisins
sesame seeds
(optional) some sort of dressing to hold it together like oil or balsamic vinegar, etc..
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:59 PM on November 8, 2008

Glazed carrots are pretty good. Put carrots (cut into medallions on the bias so they look like little ovals), 2 T of butter, and maybe a 1/4 of liquid (orange juice is good, but water is totally fine) in a frying pan (something kind of wide is nice). Salt to taste. Cover and cook until carrots are tender. If they are dried out and not tender yet, add a little bit of water. If they are tender but too soupy, crank the heat and uncover to let some juice cook off.

This is pretty versatile: you can add a spice (curry powder, maybe?), and/or aromatics (garlic or onion, chopped up) and/or finish with an herb (parsley or cilantro, or maybe thyme?).
posted by rossination at 1:01 PM on November 8, 2008

I make these maple-lime glazed carrots a lot in the fall. If you don't overcook them, they won't have anything resembling a mushy "cooked" carrot texture.
posted by bcwinters at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2008

Prepare some red lentils, and set them aside in a covered pot. Saute a few teaspoons of cumin seeds in olive oil, then add shredded carrot and saute for a few minutes longer, then add that to the red lentils. A roughly equal mixture of carrots to lentils works pretty well. Season with salt, pepper, and a little sugar.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 1:07 PM on November 8, 2008

This is my favorite baby carrot recipe, along the lines of the cumin and curry mentioned above.
posted by kcm at 1:09 PM on November 8, 2008

The answer to every vegetable question is: chop into 1" chunks, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper, and roast them. Root vegetables take a while and shrink a lot.
posted by headnsouth at 1:17 PM on November 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Make Carrot Halwa! It's an Indian sweet made with carrots and milk. So good especially hot with vanilla ice cream. Here's one recipe I found.
posted by peacheater at 1:17 PM on November 8, 2008

Carrot halwa is very awesome. I don't have a specific recipe, but there are tons online.
posted by cobaltnine at 1:18 PM on November 8, 2008

Also, I realize that you asked for cooked carrot recipes but an easy an delicious Indian carrot salad consists of grated carrot, salt, lime/lemon juice and chopped serrano peppers -- maybe 1-2 peppers for each cup of grated carrot, based on how spicy you like things.
posted by peacheater at 1:19 PM on November 8, 2008

I use a food processor for this, but a sharp knife would do.

Slice carrots and cloves of garlic with the slicing blade. Proportions don't matter much. Melt a little butter and olive oil in a saucepan, and toss the slices in, mixing them up. Cover, with the lid tilted (so it's sauteeing and sort of steaming simultaneously), over medium-low heat for 30 minutes or longer, stirring every little while. Add water if needed. (I usually put this over a flame tamer.) The carrots and garlic get caramelized and tender and they're so very delicious, I could eat the whole pot in one day.
posted by Riverine at 1:24 PM on November 8, 2008

Carrot souffle is crazy delicious.

Carrot soup with plenty of ginger, or curried carrot soup, is delicious.
posted by Miko at 1:25 PM on November 8, 2008

Carrot Kinpira!
posted by dogmom at 1:26 PM on November 8, 2008

Slice carrots into medallions, steam. Melt some butter in with them when you're done, and add some dried dillweed. Best side dish ever.
posted by coppermoss at 1:29 PM on November 8, 2008

I like them cooked not very much, with some balsamic vinegar and butter drizzled on them after, mostly because I find cooked carrots almost too sweet for my taste.
posted by MadamM at 1:33 PM on November 8, 2008

Have you ever thought of pickling some? Pickled spicy carrots are amazing.
posted by scarello at 1:46 PM on November 8, 2008

I chop & steam them then toss with honey, fresh grated ginger, olive oil, tamari, lime or lemon juice and a dash of hot sauce. Good hot or cold!
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:48 PM on November 8, 2008

Don't forget the thoroughly non-exotic pot roast— you can use quite a lot of root vegetables around the meat.
posted by hattifattener at 2:01 PM on November 8, 2008

Spicy Carrot + Coriander soup is my favourite winter-recipe, the chilli and the coriander (ground, stalks and leaves) take away a lot of the carrot taste, and it's really quick and easy to make.
posted by gregjones at 2:27 PM on November 8, 2008

headnsouth has it. roasted carrots are amazing and not even all that carroty.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:33 PM on November 8, 2008

Seconding carrot soup. You can make a ton of it, using all your carrots, freeze most it, and enjoy it throughout the winter. Here's a recipe which I know to be good: The original Moosewood Carrot Soup Recipe.

Here's a good tip for freezing soup into easily stackable bricks, taken from here:

You can also freeze soup in plastic freezer bags. In that case, when the bags are sealed, put them all flat on a cookie sheet or plastic tray and freeze them that way. Otherwise, they slump down between the bars of the freezer shelf and stick to the bars. When your bags of soup are frozen, and nice and flat, then take them off the cookie sheet and stack them on the freezer shelf. You cannot reheat in the frozen bags - just put the frozen bag of soup in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes, and then you can slide the soup out of the bag and reheat in the microwave (see #6, above) or on the stove top.
posted by dammitjim at 2:46 PM on November 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

I have also never found a cooked carrot dish I've liked, but now when I have a lot of extra carrots I make carrot-avocado salad.
Just grate the carrots (I am lazy and leave the peel on) and toss with avocado slices, lemon juice, salt, and maybe a little garlic. It's crunchy and a little creamy and good. It tastes a lot better than it sounds.
posted by rmless at 2:48 PM on November 8, 2008

I know that this isn't a side dish, but it is so unbelievably divine and doesn't taste at all like carrots (somehow) that I had to share it. It's become a big treat in my house when I have the time to chop all those carrots by hand -- if I had a food processor I would be making it a lot more frequently: Black Bean and Carrot Burritos. (Here's a link that contains a much better picture of them.)

It's from the Cookthink blog, which also has a good rundown on carrots here. That page links to some other side dishes with raw carrots that I've never tried but that you might be interested in: Carrot Mint Salad and Grated Carrot and Celeriac Salad.
posted by k8lin at 3:03 PM on November 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Carrots are excellent in soups and stews, especially lentil soup. You probably already have a recipe; just slice carrots and let them simmer till tender (~20 minutes or so).

My favorite carrot side dish is Glazed Carrots (Gajar Sabji) from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. (Scroll about 2/3 down the linked page for the recipe, or better yet, invest in the book - the recipes are great even if you're not a vegetarian.) I usually simplify it by replacing the sugar, water and fruit juice with ginger ale. I also add the nutmeg while cooking, not at the end. This dish is quite sweet, about as sweet as I can take for a vegetable side dish. It is invariably gobbled up at potlucks - this may be exactly the irresistible carrot dish you need!

Another interesting use for carrots is as a "roasting rack": cover the bottom of a roasting pan with whole carrots and set your chicken (or whatever) on top. They will keep the meat from sticking to the pan, and you'll get lovely roast carrots at the end. The carrots themselves won't stick (much) to the pan, making for an easy cleanup as well.
posted by Quietgal at 3:37 PM on November 8, 2008

Carrot-Leek Soup with Thyme, originally in Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville.

Carrot Pirog with Dill, originally in The Vegetarian Hearth by Darra Goldstein.
posted by expialidocious at 3:40 PM on November 8, 2008

One of my favorite salads is shredded carrots tossed with dark raisins and Miracle Whip. I can think of any number of variations but it's not cooked and it's quite good!
posted by Lynsey at 4:28 PM on November 8, 2008

Thank you! So many of these sound delicious, I might just try them. Tonight I actually made simple maple syrup glazed carrots, and I liked them - although neither of my kids, who like raw carrots, would touch them, but no surprise there. Not too mushy, and just sweet enough. I suspect the freshness of the carrots (they were probably picked yesterday) makes a difference.
posted by missuswayne at 5:08 PM on November 8, 2008

The New York Times recipe for Spicy Carrot Puree is great.
posted by charlesv at 5:29 PM on November 8, 2008

I can't speak for this particular recipe, but I love a good carrot slaw and Alton Brown rarely lets me down. Since you mentioned you prefer raw carrots, I figured it might be worth a shot. Actually, now I'm tempted to go make this myself.

(recipe, transcript from the Good Eats episode in which it's featured)
posted by ErWenn at 5:50 PM on November 8, 2008

If you don't like carrots, perhaps you could try grated carrot in all kinds of baked goods. Pancakes, anything. Carrots are sweet.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:07 PM on November 8, 2008

Try this recipe for golden carrot soup. Bagging it for the freezer works great. It is, yes, a carrot soup, but I don't think it has anything in common with regular blah cooked carrots.
posted by kmennie at 6:15 PM on November 8, 2008

Chocolate and Zucchini has this recipe for Grated Carrot and Avocado Salad (Carottes Rapées à l'Avocat) that is lovely.

I like to put chickpeas in it instead of chicken or whatever protein, and I use Sriracha instead of Tabasco. Flax seeds are great for the seeds it calls for, but don't put them in ahead of time--it makes it slimy and weirdly fishy-tasting.
posted by exceptinsects at 6:25 PM on November 8, 2008

I haven't previewed sorry, so apologies if this is a repeat.

Carrots peeled then chopped into thick sticks
1 tbsp Honey, warmed [something with a bit of flavour... like a native honey]
Little bit of butter
1 tsp Ground cumin

Carrots in baking dish, pour over honey, sprinkle with cumin and then dot with butter.

Bake in moderate oven for 20 - 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for further 20 - 30 minutes. Very, very tasty!

You can steam the carrots first to speed up the process. Similar to the maple glazed carrots I think?!
posted by latch24 at 10:07 PM on November 8, 2008

Molly Katzen's Carrot Cashew Curry from Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

Make this ahead, keep overnight in fridge, then reheat in microwave. Don't know why, but this tastes WAY better as a leftover that it does when you first make it.

Serve with steamed basmati rice. Rice is even better is you add a tiny pinch of saffron.
posted by marsha56 at 10:08 PM on November 8, 2008

oh! also, the thai papaya salad uses raw carrots - recipe
posted by latch24 at 10:09 PM on November 8, 2008

There are umpteen recipes for curried carrot soup. It's a yummy, simple to prepare soup, served hot or cold.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:16 AM on November 9, 2008

Noticed the links to carrot recipes on Cookthink. Here are a bunch of carrot options from the site.
posted by chipbrantley at 5:36 AM on November 9, 2008

Marcella Hazan's recipe for braised carrots made me a believer in cooked carrots:

http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=9058

Delectable.
posted by ericost at 2:58 PM on November 9, 2008

Gujerati Carrot Salad

(recipe from a Madhur Jaffrey book)
Grate about three large carrots into a serving bowl. Add a little salt and a big squeeze of lemon juice.

Drop a tablespoon or two of black mustard seeds into two or three tablespoons of hot oil (sunflower or similar, not olive) for a few seconds until they pop, and them tip the oil and mustard seeds over the grated carrots. Toss quickly while it's still sizzling.

Serve. Watch small children come back for seconds.
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 4:01 PM on November 9, 2008

Do you have a dog? Dogs LOVE them.
posted by andreap at 5:57 PM on November 9, 2008