How to string pea pods/green beans * How to use a steamer basket *

Carrot Recipes

Sauteed Carrots

* some carrots, peeled and sliced up

* half a small yellow onion, diced

* cooking oil

* salt and pepper

Saute onions and carrots in a little oil over medium heat for about a minute. Add salt and pepper, cover, and lower heat to medium low. Allow to cook for several minutes, then remove lid just long enough to stir vegetables. Allow to cook for several more minutes before stirring again. Add a little water if necessary. Continue cooking, covered, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender.

Glazed Carrots and Snow Peas

* some carrots, peeled and sliced (or baby carrots)

* some snow peas in pods

* some butter

* salt and pepper

* ½ tsp cornstarch

* about 1 Tbsp honey or syrup

Place carrots in a steamer basket and steam until they’re mostly tender, about 15 minutes. Add pea pods and steam another minute or two. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in cornstarch. Add vegetables and stir gently, making sure to coat with the butter. Add honey or syrup and stir to coat.

Parmesan Roasted Carrots and Potatoes

* some carrots, peeled and sliced (or baby carrots)

* Some small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters

* 1-2 Tbsp olive oil

* 1 tsp garlic salt

* pepper

* ¼ to ½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

* 1-2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375. Pour olive oil into a 9 x 13 pan and add carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper over and stir well to coat.

Roast for about 30-40 minutes. Carrots and potatoes should be getting tender. Sprinkle about a quarter cup of the cheese over the vegetables and roast another 10 minutes until cheese is lightly browned. Place in a serving dish, add butter and allow it to melt. Stir gently to coat, then add more cheese, stir well, and serve.

Sauteed carrots with onions with the sun glaring in through the kitchen window, blowing out all my photos that day:

Pictured left to right: Finished glazed carrots (with chicken), glazing the carrots, preparing the carrots to steam, and finished Parmesan roasted carrots and potatoes

 

Welcome to the Real Life Cooking Podcast. I’m Kate Shaw and this week we’ll learn how to cook carrots in three different ways.

I really like carrots, which are naturally sweet but not overpoweringly sweet. You may have noticed by now that I don’t typically like super-sweet stuff, so I tend to prefer carrot recipes that don’t add lots of extra sugar. But if you like your carrots to taste like candy, try the glazed carrots recipe.

If you aren’t sure how to prepare fresh carrots, I recommend you listen to the spring chicken soup episode since in that one I go over how to clean and slice up carrots. You can also avoid the issue completely by using baby carrots. Baby carrots aren’t actually young carrots, they’re usually carrot pieces that are too small to sell as whole carrots. They are pre-peeled and washed so they’re mostly ready to use. I do like to pick them over quickly to make sure there aren’t any carrot tops or bad spots on any of the pieces. If there are, just cut them off and discard before cooking.

Let’s start with sautéed carrots. They’re delicious and really easy.

To make them, you’ll need a skillet with a lid. I used two fairly large carrots and half a small onion, which made two good-sized portions.

Scrape or peel your carrots and cut the tops off. Then slice them up. You can slice them however you like, into pennies or sticks. I sliced one carrot into pennies, the other into sticks about three inches long, just to see which I preferred. I think I preferred the sticks but both were equally good and took about the same amount of time to cook.