It’s that time of year when I start thinking about interesting accompaniments to go with the Christmas meal rather than boiled sprouts! This side dish ticks all the boxes: full of flavours and textures, low intensity to prep and doesn’t require stirring over a hot stove thus freeing up your time to concentrate on other dishes.
My family loves roasted carrots, so I’ve given them a bit of a Greek makeover with feta and oregano. I’ve added the almonds because their sweetness works well with that of the carrots and also because they are my boys’ current favourite nuts.
You can use any carrots for this recipe – my favourites are the little stubby Chantenays or the funky purple carrots. I use around 1 teaspoon of rapeseed oil to roast.
Ingredients – serves 4 as a side dish
1 kg carrots
50 -75g almonds
5g fresh oregano – finely chopped
80 – 100g Feta cheese – cubed/crumbled
1 lemon – cut in half
Oil for roasting
Preheat oven 200 (fan)/220 (conventional)
Method
- Warm up a splash of oil in a large baking dish in the oven.
- Prepare the carrots by chopping off the tops and rooty bits at the bottom and then slicing each one in half down the middle. Make sure they are roughly the same size as your thumb for speedy and even cooking.
- Toss the carrots in the hot oil and set the oven timer for 40 minutes. Give them a stir half way through.
- Put the almonds in a small food bag and bash with a rolling pin to slightly splinter them.
- After 40 minutes, take the carrots out of the oven, given them another stir and add a good pinch of salt, a grind of black pepper, scatter over the oregano and crumbled almonds. Slice one half of the lemon into 4 wedges, or slices, and drop them in as well.
- Cook for another 10 minutes before stirring and adding the crumbled feta and squeezing the other lemon half over the carrots.
- Roast for another 5-10 minutes – test a carrot chunk to make sure they are soft and caramelised – and you are ready to serve.
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