Carla Lalli Music's Pan-Roasted Carrots With Chorizo Nubbins

If carrots can be famous for anything, they’d be famous for being everyone’s favorite root vegetable. Considering your opinion of the competition (rutabaga, celeriac), that might not be saying much. Their prevailing flavor is sweet, which is why I paired them with lots of bright spices, slightly bitter toasted nuts and smoky-salty-fatty chorizo. A note on ways to spin the recipe: Diced pancetta or slab bacon can be swapped in for chorizo. Brussels sprouts can replace the carrots; trim them before adding to pan. Instead of mint, use cilantro or fennel fronds. Pistachios or almonds can replace walnuts. Use fennel or cumin seeds in place of coriander (or omit). Red or white wine vinegar can stand in for sherry vinegar. Serves four.

Ingredients

2 ounces Spanish chorizo
1 pound medium carrots
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt to taste
½ cup walnut halves
2 sprigs mint
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, plus more as needed

Directions

Preheat the oven or a toaster oven to 350°F. Cut chorizo into ¼-inch-thick pieces. Scrub the carrots and halve them crosswise.

Place a 10-inch skillet over medium heat, then add the chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, until some of the fat renders and the surface of the chorizo looks blistered, 1 to 2 minutes (don’t overdo it or the chorizo will get tough). Transfer chorizo to a small plate, reserving drippings in the pan.

Add the oil to pan, then carrots, and season with salt. Cook, tossing intermittently, until the carrots are dark brown on most surfaces, 12 to 14 minutes. The carrots are going to want to roll onto the same spot and stay there, so be deliberate about turning them onto their non-browned sides so the results are somewhat even.

Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in the oven on a small rimmed baking sheet until they’re a couple of shades darker and fragrant, 10 minutes, tossing once halfway through. Spread them out on a cutting board and let cool slightly, then roughly chop. Roughly chop the mint (you should have about ¼ cup loosely packed). Set nuts and mint aside separately.

Lightly crush the coriander, then add it to the skillet with carrots and cook until fragrant, which will be pretty much immediately. Pour in 1 cup water and simmer, turning carrots occasionally, until the liquid is reduced by half, 5 minutes. Return chorizo to pan and simmer until the liquid forms a thin glaze and carrots are tender (not soft) at the center, 5 minutes more. Stick them with a cake tester or cut into one to check.

Add the vinegar and toss to coat, then taste and season with salt and/or more vinegar. Toss in mint and walnuts.

— From “That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week,” published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the Fall/Holiday 2021/22 issue of Brownstoner magazine.

Related Stories

• Chitra Agrawal of Brooklyn Dehli Shares a Recipe for Khara Huggi or Pongal
• Shannon Mustipher’s Kill Devyl Reef Cocktail
• Sofreh’s Nasim Alikhani Shares a Recipe for Koufteh Ghelgheli

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.