Erica De Mane

Still Life, Carrots, by Plamen Petkov.

Recipe below: Roasted Carrots with Almonds, Basil, and Fig Vinaigrette

I’ve lived through many vegetable trends, with bean sprouts, micro greens, arugula, radicchio, sundried tomatoes, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts. But the new carrot thing caught me off guard. It seems that now anything you can successfully roast, like most root vegetables, must have its day. Who knows, maybe parsnips will be next.  I love parsnips. Carrots, not so much, unless I really tinker with them.

I’ve always known that carrots respond well to sweet, but lately I like sweet and sour, agro dolce, even better. Balsamic vinegar, or pomegranate molasses, sweet and sour in one pour, are both wonderful with carrots. So is the time-honored combo of vinegar and honey, like I use for caponata and other agro dolce Italian dishes.

I was planning to make a sweet-sour roasted carrot dish for Thanksgiving, not sure how exactly, but certainly leaving them long, and leaving a portion of their tops on, as is now trending, but I sensed that my host needed something gloppier for the table, so I instead prepared a cauliflower gratin with tons of Gruyère. The carrot urge stayed in my head, so last night I grabbed a jar of fig jam from my fridge (fig jam is great with ricotta topped crostini, by the way), and used that as the starting point for this recipe. I wanted to keep it a bit Sicilian in flavor, so the almonds and basil fell right into place. It came out really nice, and I was happy in my culinary head. I served the carrots with roast chicken and lentils, a pretty good dinner all around. Check out this dish. See what you think.

Roasted Carrots with Almonds, Basil, and Fig Vinaigrette

(Serves 6)

2 bunches of farmers’ market carrots, multicolored if you like, halved lengthwise if thick, left whole if skinny, all but a short part of the green tops trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
A few big gratings of nutmeg
Black pepper
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fig jam
3 scallions, cut into short pieces, including the tender green part
A big handful of whole, blanched almonds, lightly toasted and then roughly chopped
A handful of basil leaves, cut into chiffonade

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lay the carrots out on a sheet pan. Drizzle them with olive oil, season them with salt, nutmeg, and black pepper, and toss them around with your fingers to distribute all the seasoning. Stick them in the oven, and roast them until they’re lightly browned and tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how thick they are.

While the carrots are roasting, whisk the vinegar and mustard together in a little bowl. Whisk in the fig jam and then about a 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. It’ll be a bit thick.

When the carrots are tender, pull them from the oven, scatter on the scallions, and drizzle on about half the vinaigrette. Let the carrots sit on the sheet pan for a moment to let the flavors warm and blend. Then lay them out on a platter. Drizzle them with the remaining vinaigrette, top them with the almonds, and garnish them with basil. Serve hot or warm.