Roasted Carrots with Tahini and Toasted Almonds
In these cooler months, roasted root vegetables have the amazing ability to combine seasonality with comfort and tradition. Carrots are no exception to that rule, but I feel they sometimes get a bad rap for being “bland” or “mushy”. This recipe breaks that stereotype and puts a new twist on a seasonal staple. Roasted with red onions, olive oil, salt, and cumin, these sweet and rich carrots are paired with a creamy and tangy lemon-tahini sauce, and topped with crunchy toasted chopped almonds to bring brightness, texture, sweetness, and mountains of flavor. Check out the recipe below!
Ingredients
Serves 2-4
1 lb carrots: tops removed, peeled
2 small/medium red onions: peeled and chopped into 6 wedges
1/2 cup tahini
1 lemon: juiced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt + more to taste
1/4 cup of almonds: chopped
6 tbsp olive oil
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425° F
Cut off carrot greens just above the base of the stem, peel, and set aside.
Peel onions and chop into 6 wedges, separate the layers in a bowl.
Add 5 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp of white pepper in a large mixing bowl, add onions and carrots, toss to combine. I like to use my hands to toss to make sure everything is evenly coated.
Spread the carrots and onions on a parchment-lined baking tray, making sure all the carrots are in contact with the tray (as opposed to having onion pieces beneath them). Bake for 30 minutes, turning the carrots over halfway through.
While the carrots and onions are baking, combine the tahini with the juice from 1 whole lemon and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Whisk to combine. Depending on how thick your tahini is, you will likely need to add water to get it to the right consistency. You want it to be thick and creamy but easily drizzleable (new word, just made it up). Add in 1 tsp of water at a time and whisk to combine until you’ve reached this perfect consistency. Then salt to taste.
Don’t forget about your carrots in the oven!
Chop your almonds into slices or small chunks and place in a pan on low heat to lightly toast for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool.
Once your carrots are done, it’s time to plate! Place your carrots and onions on a plate or serving dish, drizzle with the tahini sauce, and garnish with a generous sprinkle of the chopped almonds.
Enjoy!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. For example, you may sometimes see onions and carrots in plastic bags, or lemons in nylon mesh. These are all typically available without the plastic. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it!
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients, and choose local, in-season produce when you can.
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Things like the onions and carrots will last for a while if stored properly, so with those, if you buy a bit more than you needed, you’ll have plenty of time to use them in the future. But the lemons will go bad if you don’t use them relatively quickly, so purchase with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
We are posting this recipe in winter because nearly all of these ingredients are available year-round or commonly in a shelf-stable form. That said, as always, we encourage you to shop as locally and seasonally as possible, and if that means you need to improvise with some ingredients or choose to add something you have fresh on hand, we’re all for it! It’s likely that the lemons will not be available locally, in which case you can swap them out for canned lemon juice or another acidic ingredient like vinegar!
As we mentioned before, lots of these ingredients are available in shelf-stable forms and are thus available year-round. This includes the tahini, as well as the spices!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Let us know! If you really loved it, share it on social media and tag us (@groundedgrub), or, better yet, share it with your friends and family!