Alice's Carrots

One of the staple items we get in the box is carrots. Bunches of Nantes carrots to be exact. Normally, I would peel and chop one or two raw carrots to add to a salad. Despite our best efforts, there were some weeks when we did not fully utilize the carrots.

While talking to some friends who also get the same CSA box, they said their "go to" recipe for carrots is the glazed carrots recipe (page 298) from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. Since hearing about this, I've made this a handful of times and it's a keeper.

As Alice says, "it's more of a technique than a recipe."

It's deceptively simple and it makes an easy side dish.

It goes like this:

• Peel the carrots (however many you need to feed). If the carrots are fairly thick, you can halve them.
• Put the carrots in a pan and add water to come up about halfway up the carrots. Use a pan big enough to allow you to keep all of the carrots in a single layer.
• Add a good pinch of salt and a pat of butter.
• A few cracks of fresh pepper is always good.
• Bring to a boil then turn down the heat to a simmer.
• Cover the pan and simmer until water evaporates.
• As the water level gets low, shake the pan to distribute the buttery glaze over the carrots.
• I like to let the butter brown the carrots a bit in the pan.
• Prior to serving, you can add some chopped herbs. Parsley, chives, and basil would work.