DESSERTS WITH CARROTS RECIPES

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.

Steps:

• 1. If you’re cooking your veg separately, rather than with my perfect roast chicken, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
  2. Peel the vegetables, halving any larger ones lengthways. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled, and bash them slightly with the palm of your hand. Pick the rosemary leaves.
  3. Put the potatoes and carrots into a large pan – you may need to use two – of boiling salted water on a high heat and bring back to the boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook for another 4 minutes.
  4. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry. Take out the carrots and parsnips and put to one side.
  5. Fluff up the potatoes in the colander by shaking it around a little – it’s important to ‘chuff them up’ like this if you want them to have all those lovely crispy bits when they’re cooked.
  6. Put a large roasting tray over a medium heat and either add a few generous lugs of olive oil or carefully spoon a little of the fat from the meat you’re cooking, and add the garlic and rosemary.
  7. Tip the vegetables into the tray, season with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper and turn the veg over to coat them in the flavours. Spread them out evenly into one layer – this is important, as you want them to roast, not steam as they will if you have them all on top of each other.
  8. Roast for 1 hour, or until golden and crisp, then serve immediately with your roast and some delicious gravy.