Whole Roasted Carrots with Salty Cheese Dip

When carrots are roasted in the oven with their skin still on, they develop this beautiful brown slightly chewy exterior. This recipe uses not only the carrot with skin but also the carrot tops, which are used to make a mockup pesto using almonds. It is a colorful piece of art that tastes amazing.

Whole roasted carrots with salty cheese dip

Serves:

6 people

Time to Prepare:

1 hour

Time to cook or cure:

30 min

Serves:

Roasting

Serves:

6 people

Time to Prepare:

1 hour

Time to cook or cure:

30 min

Skills:

Roasting

Watch it step by step

Ingredients

The carrots

500 g whole carrots
olive oil
salt
pepper
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp smoked paprika powder
1tsp dried garlic powder

The dip

200 gr fresh sheep’s cheese
salt
pepper
juice of 1 lemon
60 ml double cream

The pesto

carrot tops of 4 carrots
50 g boiled almonds
salt
pepper
olive oil
water to make it more liquid if necessary

The drizzle

Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika powder
1 tbsp honey
50 ml water
salt

Useful guidelines

Spacing the carrots

During roasting

Adding honey, yes or no?!

The best carrots for this dish are very sweet. The honey is best added to help the caramelisation during the roasting. But it is not necessary in case your carrots are already very sweet.

Blanching carrot tops

Blanching is a technique that preserves the vibrant green colour whilst cooking the ingredients untill it is just cooked. Make sure to properly cool the tops when taking them out of the water, otherwise they will keep cooking and you will get a less lively green result.

Directions

Simply follow these steps to make these delicious roasted carrots:

This dish has 4 elements.

Preheat the oven on 390F/200C

Element #1: Roasted Carrots

Wash your carrots until they are clean, use a brush if necessary.
Then seperate the tops fromt he carrots and save the tops of about 4 carrtos. Make sure the tops are looking fresh and select the most tender looking ones.
Now place the carrots in a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, then season them with the dried spices and salt and pepper. Massage the whole so that the carrots are evenly covered. If your carrots are not very sweet you can now also add a drizzle of honey.
Place the tray in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Check in on them after 15 min and swirl them around.

Element #2: Salty sheep’s cheese dip

Put 200g of fresh sheeps cheese or fete into a bowl and mix in the juice of 1 lemon, 60 ml of double cream and season with salt and pepper.
Puree the whole with a wand mixer untill it is combined paste. It should not be completely smooth. Set aside.

Element #3: Carrot top pesto

Select the tender carrot tops of 4 carrtos and cut of the stringy stems. Now blanch them in boiling salted water for 3 minuted and cool them immediately after in an ice bath.
Drain the carrot tops and cut them up roughly in order to blend them together with 100g of boiled peeled almonds, salt and olive oil until the pesto is smooth, vibrant green and of pancake batter consistency.
Check on your carrots and take them out when they are dark golden and the ends are almost starting to burn.

Element #4: Smoked paprika and garlic drizzle

For the final element, in some olive oil, fry off 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic. Then introduce a tsp of smoked paprika and deglaze with a drizzle of white wine. Leave to simmer untill wine is no longer alcoholic. Add honey and salt to taste.
The final step is to assemble the 4 elements in an artistic way. We love to make bed of dip, lay teh carrots on top as if they came falling out of the heavens and then drizzle them with the pesto and the oil. You can finish it of with a few slices of orange and some tender carrot tops.

Enjoy!

Storage

These element all keep well in the fridge for another 4 days. Reheat the carrots before serving and take out the pesto at least a few hours before in order to make it liquid again.

PRO TIP:

It is very easy to boil your own almonds for 5 minuted and take the skin of by rubbing them with a dry rag.