I haven’t had much chance to cook with home-grown vegetables this summer since I haven’t been at my family home to enjoy the garden. Last year I loved spending lots of time outside helping my Mum out with the gardening, and cooking and eating everything too of course. I shared some pictures of the garden/ our harvest here.
Though I haven’t been home lately, my Mum was in London over the weekend and brought me a ton of veg! I have a feeling she’s struggling to stay on top of eating everything without me there! A few of my next recipes will be featuring the home-grown produce.
First up- these Chantenay carrots!
These fresh-from-the-earth, imperfect specimens are so much more appealing than the luminous orange, uniform carrots you find in the supermarkets, aren’t they?
I gave them the roasting treatment to get them nice and tender and brought out their natural sweetness even more with a maple-orange glaze.
I added chickpeas to the mix too. If you haven’t had roasted chickpeas yet, you definitely need to try them. If you cook them a bit longer than I did here they get really crunchy and make a great snack. I cooked them alongside the carrots here which was just long enough for them to be crisp on the outside but still creamy inside.
The Maple-Orange Roasted Chickpeas & Carrots are a nice side-dish, or you could roast some potatoes at the same time and turn it into a one-pan meal, or do what I did and use them in a “bowl meal”. My other components were tamari-seasoned brown rice and steamed spinach.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 C Cooked chickpeas (1 Can, drained and rinsed)
- 175g/6oz Chantenay carrots, halved or quartered if large (you can also use regular carrots chopped into small chunks)
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- A few sprigs fresh thyme
- 1-1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- Zest and juice of half an orange
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F
- In a roasting dish, toss the chickpeas and carrots with the olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt (the salt balances the sweetness) and the leaves removed from the sprigs of thyme.
- Cook for approx 20 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time. Add the maple syrup, orange juice and zest to the pan and toss well.
- Cook for a further 5 minutes, or until carrots are tender and beginning to brown at edges and the chickpeas are crisp.
- *UPDATE*Some readers are finding their carrots take longer than stated to cook through. If using regular carrots, not chantenay, I recommend blanching them before roasting to start the cooking process and prevent everything drying out from having to roast for longer.
Have you been growing your own vegetables this year? If so, what’s been the most successful?
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Ooh yummy, I love the sound of this dish, especially that maple-orange glaze! I have half a can of chickpeas sitting in the fridge so I think I may just halve the recipe and make this for lunch tomorrow
Hope you enjoyed it if you did try the recipe Nicola!
Love the colors and I bet it tastes good! Thanks Emma!
I felt like the orange of the carrots really intensified in the cooking process! So vibrant!
YUM! I posted a few months ago about orange roasted carrots but had totally forgot about it! I love your idea of throwing roasted chickpeas into the mix
Totally missed that one of yours. The orange was so lovely to balance everything out. And those sticky, crispy chickpeas were divine!
i am definitely making this (with the rice and spinach as described). Mouth watering already!
this looks so seasonal and delicious. the chickpeas looks so tiny, i thought they were lentils!
I know! I had been cooking a pot of chickpeas from scratch the day I made this dish but forgot about it on the stovetop and burnt them all dry! Whoope! I picked up a can instead and was so surprised at how small they were!
This sounds and looks so fabulous Emma! Simple and I bet it’s so good with the maple syrup. I roast my carrots in maple syrup sonetumes and it’s like candy! I love the orange addition, and over the chickpeas sounds so comforting and filling.
I love roasted carrots! I love the look of the carrots straight from the garden and am sure they tasted delicious
I will be saving this recipe! It looks so comforting and tasty! Pinned!
Thanks Ceara
Roasted carrots are so wonderful. In fact roasting most vegetables can really make them magical.
What a gorgeous and vibrant dish. How lovely having your Mum deliver vegetables too - my Mum was also in London over the weekend, but coming from Australia, fresh produce was not part of the visit 😉 (We still had a great time though, obviously!)
It would have been nice to have spent a little time with her too but the vegetables were definitely appreciated!
Glad you enjoyed the family time Kari 😀
that meal looks so yummy - I love maple syrup and roasted chickpeas - carrots I can love or loathe depending on the dish - your mum’s carrots are very cute - how nice to have a delivery of fresh produce from home
Someone else told me they disliked carrots today! i’ve always loved them and am convinced my hands are slightly yellow from the amount I consume (mostly raw)!
Lovely recipe Emma. When I try this in the fall, I probably will substitute veggie broth for the olive oil. I’m trying to reduce the use of oils that have been cooked and reach a temp. over their boiling point. I have learned that produces free radicals.
Nan
Great! Hope you do try it. I’m not sure you’ll get quite the same crispy effect oil-free but I’m sure it will still be tasty.
I do use light olive oil (or coconut) for cooking rather than extra-virgin as it’s fine at high heat, unlike extra-virgin.
What a delicious combination!
This dish is absolutely stunning! And maple? Cannot wait to try it!
Thx for sharing. xx Bianca
http://thefriendlyfig.com/
Thanks Bianca. We loved it here. The maple just brings out the carrots’ natural sweetness. Delish.
My husband is vegan so I am always trying to find new things to try. I am roasting this at this very moment. Im super excited! Thanks for this great, simple recipe!
That’s so great to hear Heather! Hope you both enjoyed the meal 😀
I made this for dinner last night and it turned out ah-maaaaazing! I like my bowls a little more savory, so I added soy sauce and ginger/garlic paste to the liquids. Gonna put this on the weekly rotation, for sure!
So thrilled to hear that Kendall, thanks for reporting back! I serve it with tamari-seasoned brown rice for that savoury element. A little ginger sounds lovely too.
Cherries, zuccinis, pumpkins, pears
Pears and squash are high on my list too. Cherries and zucchini are over here now though
Yum. I made this for dinner and it was delicious. I had to cook the carrots about twice as long as suggested, I guess it depends on the size and type of carrots used. Will be making again!
Awesome! So pleased to hear that Amie. Cooking time will definitely depend on size. Mine were pretty teeny!
I also had the same problem and i did mine on convection and my pieces of carrot were pretty small. It ended up drying everything else out unfortunately. I will have to dice them next time.
Thanks for your note Jen. I’m going to update the recipe to clarify that the carrots need to be pretty small. Another option is to blanch the carrots then roast them.
Is there a recipe for the tamari seasoned brown rice that is mentioned in this recipe?
It’s just exactly as described! Brown rice (I used short-grain) seasoned with a splash of tamari.
This looks incredible! It’s one of those fabulous recipes that borders the line between savory and sweet. Just pinned it to make soon, thanks
Thanks Natalie, I’ve had great feedback on this one. I love sweet & savoury together