When I think of meals that involve hearty roasts and grilled meats, I always think of carrots as a side dish. Carrots, potatoes and pumpkins. Great flavour, texture and colour.
So if you recall in my earlier post of the Minted Peas dish which I cooked up for the bloggers Christmas in July feast, I had another dish which I had to bring along to the party.
Carrots. Not the most exciting root vegetable to grab our attention, but lovely anyway. If I can bring your attention to a little ‘research’ I did a while back when I wrote a post on Prahran Market, I mentioned the history of the humble carrot.
So to pay tribute to the carrot, we decided we had to make them more interesting than the usual roasting/grilling/steaming/boiling by themselves.
So we went on a hunt and found in the same video that taught us how to make minted peas (Marco’s way), how to cook Carrots in a White Parsley Sauce.
Ingredients
(Recipe adapted from Marco Pierre White for Knorr Recipes)
1 kg of Carrots (roughly cut up in chunks, or you could use baby carrots, which is more ideal)
2 x Continental Stock Pot
Finely chopped flat leaf Parsley
For the Roux
25 grams of butter (1 ounce)
25 grams of flour (1 ounce)
Cold Milk
Cream
Begin by boiling the carrots in water, with one whole Continental Stock Pot. Once the carrots are cooked (nice and firm, not too mushy), you can retain the liquid as stock for future dishes.
To make the white sauce, start by heating up the butter and the flour (1:1) in a saucepan. According to Marco, the secret to making a good white sauce is by incorporating lots of air into the roux. Do this by continuously mixing the roux with either a rubber spatula or ladle.
Marco mentions that the classic ratio to making a white roux is usually double the amount he has suggested, but that makes it a tad too thick, and this recipe needs the white sauce to be light and silky and not too heavy.
Once the roux starts changing colour, add the cold milk to the hot roux in small amounts, beating it as you go to ensure that you incorporate as much air into the roux as possible.
Once the milk is incorporated into the roux and starts taking on a silky white texture, start whisking by hand and add in one whole Continental Stock Pot.
Add in the chopped parsley and continue whisking. Pour in a tiny amount of cream.
Bring the mixture to the boil and toss the cooked carrots into the sauce pan (we did it the other way around due to the size of our saucepan) 🙂
Make sure you coat all carrots with the white sauce.
Set aside and serve whilst hot 🙂
Another easy recipe to go forth and conquer in your kitchen. The only difficult part was getting the roux right, but I think we did a pretty good job with it.
What are your favourite ways of serving carrots?
These look so delicious!! 🙂 Nice work in making some boring veg just that little more special
Peas are so boring!! Hahahaha
This looks very british!
Hahaha… yes and no 🙂
I have honestly never, ever eaten carrots in a white sauce like this! I can’t even really imagine what it tastes like… then again, that might be because as a kid I point blank refused to eat carrots any way but raw 😛
You are a weirdo.. thank goodness I like you 😛 Actually I like carrots .. raw or cooked 🙂 U can still have my peas and brussel sprouts!!
Deal!
(SPAMMING AGAIN!)
SPAMMER!!!
I’m with Nic, its a brilliant way to spice up a side dish, or give a meal a whole other dimension of flavor.
Thank you! It just so delicious 🙂
Very very French indeed!
This would feature lots in French home cook dinner. Actually, cooking a perfectly boiled carrot is pretty difficult. That’s why kids hate them. Simple tasty creamy sauce helps a lot.
Btw, it’s a little funny to see Pierre on M. Pierre… on your recent comment list. ;P
I love to pan-fried/roast carrot until tender but crisp on outside, then deglaze with sweet (and spicy) stuff.
I know.. I kept doing a double take looking at my comments… got me excited that MPW commented.. NOT! Hahahaha..
I must admit, carrots isn’t one of my favourite veggies…I can only eat them if they’re completely cooked through until almost mushy or if they’re pickled like the shredded carrots in Viet rolls. I’m willing to try your dish though, it certainly looks a lot more appetising than the average carrots I see! 😀
I am honoured you’d be willing to try these carrots 🙂 I still wouldn’t eat Brussel Sprouts even if you served it to me with bacon 😛
Ahhh…the beloved Xmas in July fest. Loved how creamy these were. YURRM!
It was such an amazing day. I can’t believe we ate so much!!
My husband will only eat raw carrots. I love them however they come, and this certainly looks yummy!
Really? I like carrots any which way and these sure were tasty!