Roasted Carrots w/ Orange-Coriander Sour Cream

They're good enough to plan a whole meal around

The other night some friends came over for dinner and the week leading up to it, I had no idea what I was going to make (exciting!). I thought about making a meatloaf which I’ve never made and don’t think I’ve eaten before. (Side note: I’ve been interested in classic midwestern dishes that are often looked down upon, though they must be classic for a reason!) But then I had a vision for these Roasted Carrots with Orange-Coriander Sour Cream Base.

The image of a fork spearing an elongated carrot and swiping it across a layer of creamy sauce embedded itself in my brain, et voilà, here was the star of dinner. With the help of an orange-coriander base, these carrots would lean into their natural sweetness contrasted with spiced, oven-crisped chickpeas, and hot chili oil.

As I’ve already mentioned, I wouldn’t recommend a dinner party recipe if you couldn’t make it (or majority of it) ahead of time. For this recipe, the creamy honey-orange-coriander base is a little finicky and does take extra time, but it’s something that can be done the day before. All the better because those flavors get a little more intense the more they settle with each other.

CREAMY ORANGE-CORIANDER BASE

• Juice from 3.5 oranges (1 cup)

• 2 tbsp butter

• 2 tsp whole coriander seeds

• 0.75 of an 8 oz sour cream container

• 0.5 tbsp honey

ROASTED CARROTS

• 5-6 carrots, cut in half cross-wise and quartered lengthwise

• 1-2 tbsp avocado oil

• 0.5 tsp fennel seeds

• 2 tsp salt & pepper

ROASTED CHICKPEAS

• 1 can of chickpeas

• 0.5 tbsp avocado oil

• 2 tsp salt & pepper

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 2 tsp red pepper flakes

FOR ASSEMBLY

• 0.125 cup of chopped parsley

• 2 tsp fresh thyme (reserve for the carrots post-roasting)

• zest of 2 oranges

• 0.5-1 tbsp chili oil (or however much you like)

• ~2 tsp champagne vinegar

Method

CREAMY ORANGE-CORIANDER BASE

1. Start by making the brown butter. In a small pan over medium to medium-high heat, bring the butter to an energetic simmer/light boil until it gets foamy. Start whisking and don’t stop, you should start to see little flecks of milk solids settling at the bottom of the pan, so make sure those bits don’t burn.

2. Bloom coriander seeds. Once you see those milk solids, add the coriander seeds and continue whisking. As the spices start to become more fragrant, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer (low, low-medium heat). You may even need to take the pan off the heat (while whisking) to ensure the spices don’t burn, which can happen quickly.

3. Take off the heat right as the butter becomes a golden honey brown color. Once the butter smells nutty, the color overall will become a light golden brown with the milk solids and coriander seeds becoming slightly darker in color as well. Take the butter off the stove as soon as this happens (it’s easy to go from perfect golden brown to burned). With the residual heat, continue stirring for a couple of minutes. You’ll see the butter and seeds become increasingly rich in color. If not, put the butter back on a low heat and whisk until you 1) smell the coriander more intensely and/or 2) the butter is a rich golden brown.

4. Let the butter cool. Once it’s reached the desired state, take off the heat and let the butter cool, leaving the whole coriander seeds in the butter. This adds another textural layer to the finished dish.

5. Boil & reduce the orange juice. While the butter cools, take the juice of your oranges and, making sure no pulp or rind gets through, pour the orange juice through a fine mesh strainer into another small saucepan over medium-high heat. Let the orange juice come to a boil. The liquid should reduce by at least ¾ or more of the original amount and become a thicker consistency of syrup. This could take about 10-15 minutes or more. (Keep in mind, this will be added to the sour cream and you don’t want it to be too loose, so the more syrup-y, the better.)

6. Combine orange reduction, butter & coriander, honey, and sour cream. Once the orange juice has become syrupy, add this to a bowl along with the butter and bloomed coriander seeds. Add the honey and sour cream and stir until everything is combined. It will be a bit looser now with the orange reduction and butter which is fine. (It’s too loose if it doesn’t hold some shape. If this happens, just drizzle over the carrots instead of using it as a base.)

7. Set in the fridge and move on to the next phase of the recipe.

ROASTED CHICKPEAS

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. Rinse & strain the chickpeas.

3. Combine chickpeas, oil, and spices. Add the chickpeas to a sheet pan. Drizzle the oil and add the spices and mix with your hands to coat all of the chickpeas.

4. Roast. Put the pan of chickpeas in the oven and let these roast for about 10 minutes, or until you hear lots of little chickpeas popping and sizzling. They should be “frizzled”—sort of fried and roasted with crisped outer shells.

5. Take them out of the oven. There should be a healthy amount of “frizzled” chickpeas upon inspection. You can set these aside, they’ll be fine at room temperature.

ROASTED CARROTS

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. Prep your carrots. After rinsing, scrubbing, and cutting your carrots in half cross-wise and quartered lengthwise, place them on a sheet pan. (You could add an extra step here, which I like to do, and that is to dry roast the carrots in the oven which lets any excess water cook off that might still be there from rinsing. I find this helps to speed up the process of browning once you add the oil. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes in an already heated oven.)

3. Combine ingredients. On the sheet pan, combine the carrots with oil and spices, making sure all sides are coated.

4. Roast. Put them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are soft and starting to sizzle. Whack the temperature up to 475°F and roast for another 5-10 minutes or until they’ve started to become brown and crisp around the edges. While they’re roasting, have ready the dish you plan to serve them on. It should be long enough to spread out the carrots (you want to make sure each one makes contact with the creamy base). You should also take your Creamy, Orange-Coriander Base out of the fridge and have the chickpeas nearby.

5. Take the carrots out of the oven & assemble. Once you’ve taken the carrots out of the oven, spoon the Creamy, Orange-Coriander Base directly on your serving dish and spread it around, creating peaks and valleys. (Again, if you find the creamy base has ended up more loose like a sauce, just lay the carrots out first and add the sauce at the end.) Lay the carrots across the dish so that they’re all making contact with the creamy base. Arrange the roasted chickpeas around and in the crevices of the carrots. Sprinkle everything with chopped parsley, thyme leaves, flakey salt and orange zest. Finish by adding the chili oil and a light drizzle of champagne vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice over everything.

Enjoy!