Carrot is a root vegetable that can hardly be imagined as a centrepiece of a holiday table. This veggie is inconspicuous and unnoticeable to many home cooks.
We might neglect the carrots in favour of other more original or festive vegetables. But we would like to show a couple of ways how one could brush up a humble carrot this winter.
A simple carrot recipe
Christmas carrots can go in many directions. But we prefer simple dishes to elaborate preparations. Those are often intrinsic to a festive mode of cooking but time-consuming.
Let’s start with an unpretentious and easy recipe of glazed carrots. Use a vegetable peeler or a scourer to clean 7-9 medium-sized carrots. In a pan, combine 400ml of water, 250 g of butter, 150 g of sugar, 3 tsp of salt, and 4-5 star anise. Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and toss in the carrots. Cook until the carrots are tender (for 40-45 minutes). By then, the volume of liquid is reduced by half.
Serve the carrots immediately as a side dish. You’d want to pour the reduced cooking liquid over.
Let’s try another carrot Christmas treat
The second Christmas treat is a carrot with jam, sticky and sweet. It will be yet another perfect side dish for your festive dinner.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. In the meantime, start preparing the veggies. Using parsnip together with carrots is a great idea. Peel and cut 500g of carrots lengthwise and 500g of parsnips. Toss them into the baking tray with a couple of sprigs of thyme sprigs. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, and season with salt. Roast for 40 minutes until fork-tender.
When ready, toss the veg in the citrus jam and honey. Roast for another 10 minutes until golden. Sprinkle the vegetables with black sesame and serve.
Get your hands on delicious carrot pudding
The last, but definitely not the least, is the Christmas carrot pudding. For that, you’ll need to grate a raw carrot and raw potato to get 1 cup of each. Then set the veg aside for now.
Cream 200 gr of sugar with 115 gr of butter, and mix well. Then add the carrot-potato mixture. Sprinkle with 120 gr of flour and 1 tsp of baking soda, mix thoroughly together.
Now add 120 gr of raisins, 80 g of dried currants or cranberries. Don’t forget to toss 100 gr of random fresh berries or fruits of your choice. Mix everything, put it into the appropriate bowl (butter it first).
Cover the bowl with foil, put in a big pot, add some water, and steam for 3 hours. Don’t forget to check the water level periodically.
When done, praise yourself and dig in.
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