a picture of a worksurface with two plates filled with butter glazed carrots

Emily Cuddeford & Rachel Morgan: Butter-glazed Carrots with Labneh and Pumpkin Seeds

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Vegetarian

This recipe is from the book Kitchen Table: Simple Things Made Well by Emily Cuddeford and Rachel Morgan

Emily: Carrots, and specifically carrots in butter, are something I associate with comfort.

I’m not 100% sure why this is, whether it’s the commonness of carrots – they are a vegetable we nearly all have access to – grown in the UK and still reasonably cheap compared to other vegetables. Their rounded sweetness when cooked, especially hand in hand with butter is immeasurably comforting. The absolute favourite in our house – which we have alongside roast chicken for a treat – is carrot purée, which my mum made when I was little.

Order Kitchen Table: Simple Things Made Well (HarperCollins, £25) here

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Method

1 Start by making the spice mix: toast the fennel, cumin and fenugreek seeds until warm and filling your kitchen with the smell of spice.

Grind them in a pestle and mortar, then add the chilli flakes and nigella seeds.

2 Wash, top and tail your carrots. If you want, you can peel them as well. Cut them on the diagonal into large chunks around 5–6cm.

3 Melt the butter in a pan, then add the garlic, spices, salt and lemon zest and cook for a few minutes, until the garlic starts to colour. Add the carrots to the pan, coat them in the spicy butter mix, and cook for 2 minutes. Pour 200g of water into the pan and put the lid on, then bring it up to the boil and cook for 4 minutes. Take the lid off and check the carrots with the point of a knife. They should still feel firm at this stage, but the point of the knife will start to go in. With the lid off, keep cooking the carrots until all the water has evaporated and boiled away. The carrots by this point should be cooked.

To work out best how you like your carrots cooked, still with a bit of bite or soft all the way through, just try them. If you want them cooked more but the water is gone, add another splash and put the lid on, checking them again in 3–4 minutes. Once you are happy with how they are are cooked, the water is all gone and the carrots have a spicy buttery glaze on them.

4 Spread the labneh or yoghurt on the bottom of the plate or platter, top with the glazed carrots and spiced butter, then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and serve.

NOTES
The recipe has ½ tsp of chilli flakes, but I like to add 1 tsp for a more fiery version. This is a great side with slow-cooked lamb or lentils.