Roasted Carrots are Carried to New Heights in this Recipe.
I’m a fan of roasted carrots. I particularly love them when they’re sitting on top of a cool yogurt sauce. But this recipe came about when I stumbled across an old recipe for toasted pistachio oil. It’s extremely simple. Slightly toast the nuts, grind them in a food processor, add warm olive oil, grind again, add a little salt and you’re done. Let it sit at room temperature overnight, then use it however you’d wish. This is not a clear oil. The ground up pistachios remain in the oil, which makes it burst with pistachio flavor. This stuff is really good. I’ve included a link to the recipe in the recipe card below.
Seeing as I had a couple bunches of really nice carrots I had planned on roasting, I decided the pistachio oil would be a great match, but I also wanted to add some creamy yogurt, so I first got started on my yogurt sauce. I chopped dried sour cherries, the green parts of a couple scallions and stirred them into whole milk Greek yogurt. A little salt was all that was needed to finish it off.
I then roasted the carrots with ground green cardamom, salt, pepper, and olive oil. After spreading the yogurt sauce on a platter, I spooned some of the pistachio oil on top and then placed the carrots on the sauce. I had toasted some additional pistachios and sprinkled them on top, along with some tarragon leaves.
Biting into those sweet carrots with a spoonful of the tart cherry yogurt was delicious, but when it was combined with the pistachio oil this reached a new height of deliciousness. Sometimes, you hit on a flavor combination that’s surprising. Sometimes it’s really good. But then there are those times where you knock it out of the park. This is one of those times. I can’t recommend any of my recipes more highly than this one. And once again, if you keep the rest of the meal really simple, you can spend your time on this one standout dish and put something truly special on the table.
Roasted Carrots with Sour Cherry Yogurt and Toasted Pistachio Oil
4
servingsStir chopped dried sour cherries and scallions into Greek yogurt and spread it on a platter. Top it with carrots roasted with green cardamom and olive oil. Then drizzle homemade toasted pistachio oil over all of it. Oh, yes, indeed.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Yogurt Sauce
1/3 cup dried sour cherries, chopped
2 tablespoons minced green parts of scallions
1 1/2 cups whole milk Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Roasted Carrots
2 pounds carrots, cleaned and peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons green cardamom seeds, coarsely ground
1 1/4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher Salt
black pepper, freshly ground
3 tablespoons Toasted Pistachio Oil - Click here for link to the recipe
2 tablespoons toasted salted pistachios, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves
Directions
- Yogurt Sauce
- Combine the cherries, scallions, yogurt, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Chill until you’re ready to serve the carrots.
- Roasted Carrots
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place carrots on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil, cardamom, salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes. Remove any small carrots that are already done. I like my carrots crisply tender. Flip the remaining larger carrots and roast for another 10 minutes.
- Spread the yogurt sauce on a big platter. Create some grooves in the sauce and spoon on about 3 tablespoons of the toasted pistachio oil . Lay the carrots on top of the sauce, sprinkle with additional toasted pistachios and tarragon leaves. Enjoy!
7 Responses
I made this for my husband for an early Valentine’s Day dinner with potato strudel and Campari-glazed shortbread hearts. The sour cherries were from an Iranian market, and unpitted to my dismay, but the extra effort was worth it. We loved the exotic flavors!
One question: is the cardamom supposed to be 2 teaspoons of the seeds, or the seeds of 2 teaspoons of cardamom pods? I culled about half a teaspoon of cardamom seeds before giving up, and thought that worked well.
What a glorious Valentine’s meal you made!!! I can imagine your reaction when you realized those cherries were unfitted. Lol!! Now, as to the cardamom seeds. Yes, I did mean 2 teaspoons of the seeds from the pods and yeah, those aren’t the most fun things to work with, but boy are they delicious. If you found a half teaspoon to be sufficient, then there’s no reason to use more. I just happen to really love them and greatly enjoy the full 2 teaspoons in this recipe. Thanks so much for letting me know you loved it!!
Whoops, please disregard my comment. I realize that you addressed it above. My bad!
No worries, Lauren!!! I hope you make this recipe because it is a favorite of mine!
Argh, the recipe for toasted pistachio oil seems to be gone, and it’s hard to find a replacement. Do you remember how this is made? Is it a question of toasting pistachios in olive oil?
Yes I’m making this. To accompany your lamb chops with black salt. I cannot wait.
That will be an outstanding combination, Sherie. Perfect! Can’t wait to hear how you like both of them.