What to do with Carrots: Whole Roasted Carrots with Fresh Fig Balsamic Vinegar

Over the weekend I did a TON of cooking for the blog. You've already seen the beautiful (if I say so myself) Mango Tart with Crystallized Ginger and Pistachios. Another recipe I made was Chilled Carrot Soup from Deborah Madison's latest cookbook: I will publish it either this Friday or next week.

The Chilled Carrot Soup called for 3 cups of sliced carrots, but I wasn't sure how many pounds of carrots it would take and bought extras just in case. Turns out, 3 cups of sliced carrots is about one pound. I had a pound of beautiful carrots left over and decided to make Whole Roasted Carrots with Fresh Fig Balsamic Vinegar. This recipe is inspired by a recipe my friend Cindy made for Tavern on the Green Blog.

Just for fun, I decided to roast my carrots in a cast iron grill pan to give the final product some grill marks, but you can use a cookie sheet.

Roasted Carrots with Fresh Fig Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients

1 pound young carrots, scrubbed
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of fresh fig balsamic vinegar (or any other vinegar you like)
salt to taste

for the glaze
1/2 cup fresh fig balsamic vinegar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450F with the cast iron grill pan inside.
2. Drizzle the carrots with olive oil and season with salt.
3. CAREFULLY remove the cast iron grill pan from the oven. Add the carrots to the pan and roast for 40-60 minutes depending on how thick your carrots are and how crunchy you will want them to remain. You might want to check on the carrots a few times and roll them around the pan.
4. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan bring the 1/2 cup fresh fig balsamic vinegar to a boil, then reduce the heat and continue to cook until the vinegar thickens and reduces in volume.
5. Drizzle the roasted carrots with the balsamic reduction before serving.

before:

after:

This is a relatively easy dish to make and can be served hot, at room temperature or even cold. You can use these carrots as a side dish or chop them to add to salads or pasta. You could also puree them with other roasted vegetables and turn them into a sauce or a soup.

What is your favorite thing to do with whole carrots?