Carrots Boring?....Never!......Honey & Orange Glazed Carrots

For some reason carrots have always been treated as second class citizens in the world of vegetables which I think is very unfair because this humble vegetable, although attributed to the poorer or peasant classes because it is and always has been the cheapest of vegetables, was a mainstay during the lean years of the second world war.
It could be that in the post war years carrots were viewed as a vegetable to be eaten out of necessity during harsh times and not one to be enjoyed simply for its flavor! In turn my own parents generation, i.e. those children brought up during the war years, probably equated the carrot with misery rather than pleasure and so relegated it to the background in favor of newer, more exotic vegetables. But still today carrots are seen as useful items in cooking rather than something that could hold pride of place on the dinner table as a dish in its own right.

I am a lover of carrots and the variations of how you can prepare, cook and serve them are numerous. From vegetable filled casseroles, to tasty soups, a 3 vegetable mash of carrots, parsnips & swede, to being grated and enjoyed in salads or even in sweet muffins and spicy cakes...or a family favourite which is grated carrot in orange jelly, wonderfully refreshing along with a summer salad! But as I said before, in their own right they can be cooked and served as a side dish to accompany pretty much any sort of meal from fish to poultry to meat. They are particularly delicious with the old Sunday roast and this dish of carrots with a honey and orange glaze really shows off the unique flavor of this vegetable.

For these tasty carrots you will need.........to feed 4 people

400 - 500 g carrots ......I like to use nice big chunky carrots but if you happen to grow your own you could pick them when they are quite young and really sweet
3-4 tablespoons clear runny honey
1 large navel orange....the juicier the better!
approx 100 mls water
butter...about 50g
sea salt, fresh black pepper
a casserole dish with a tightly fitting lid

How to..........

• peel / scrape and scrub the carrots then cut into really thick chunks
• place in your casserole dish
• remove the zest using a zester or you can grate the zest of the orange and add to the carrots 
• cut the orange into sections and add to the carrots
• add the water, season with salt and pepper
• add a few knobs of butter then drizzle with honey
• cover with the lid and place on a medium heat on your stove top
• let the carrots steam away all by themselves until they are almost tender
• remove the lid and turn the heat up full
• let the liquid boil and begin to evaporate
• as the liquid evaporates it will begin to form a sticky, shiny orange glaze that will coat the carrots making them deliciously tasty
• turn out onto a serving dish and enjoy immediately!

You can add a few other flavors to this dish too....try a tablespoon of caraway seeds, or a few cardamon pods....or fresh herbs such a summer savory, thyme or even sage, but add the herbs almost in the last moments so you won't loose too much of the fresh flavor.