CARROTS FOR ONE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Carrots boiled with orange, garlic and herbs: Boil the carrots in salted boiling water with a tablespoon of sugar, a knob of butter and a little handful of fragrant herbs, tied up. Parsley, rosemary, thyme, bay – use just one or a mixture. Cut an orange into eighths and add them to the water, along with a few whole garlic cloves in their skins. If you really want to be a little tiger, add a pinch of cumin as well (seeds or ground) – it subtly cuts through with the most wonderful flavour. As soon as the carrots are cooked, drain them, discard the herbs and all but one of the orange pieces, squeeze the garlic out of its skin, chop the remaining orange piece finely and toss with the carrots, some seasoning and a little more butter. The flavour will be incredible.
  2. Another idea is to fry the chopped-up orange in a good tablespoon of sugar, so it almost jammifies, and serve this on top of the carrots. These two flavours together are one of the coolest things.
  3. Or, roasted carrots with orange, garlic and thyme: just as easy – as soon as you drain the carrots you can throw them into a baking tray with the chopped-up orange and the garlic cloves and roast them at 200°C/400°F/gas 6 for 10 minutes – this will give you a slightly meatier flavour.
  4. Or simply mash the carrots up with the orange and garlic, so you have some coarse and some smooth. Lovely.

Steps:

• 1. Trim and wash the carrots, leaving a little of the green tops on so they look pretty. 2. Melt the butter and the dripping, if you’ve got it, in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Crush the unpeeled garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife, then add to the pan, turning after 1 minute. 3. Sprinkle in the thyme sprigs (they’ll crackle a bit), squeeze in the clementine juice and add the honey, bay and a splash of water. 4. Add the carrots, sprinkle with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then jiggle the pan to coat them in all that flavour. 5. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. 6. When the time’s up, uncover the pan and, being very vigilant, simply reduce the moisture away until you get a beautiful clementine glaze and the carrots start to catch and caramelize in a lovely way, turning often. 7. Once you think they look great, simply serve straight away, or you can remove them from the heat and crack on with your other jobs, reheating them when needed. Delicious.