Beersamic Roasted Carrots

Carrots of many colors are lightly salted and flavored with pepper then brushed with a delicious malty sweet and tangy beersamic (reduction of half balsamic vinegar, half malty brown ale) and roasted until soft and beginning to caramelize. Garnish with fresh thyme.

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Beersamic roasted carrots in cast iron pan. #beersamic #roastedcarrots #cookingwithbeer #beersamicglaze

Beersamic roasted carrots are a delicious and colorful side to a variety of meat dishes and can easily be enjoyed on their own. Especially if you get smaller, younger carrots (hint: a most favorable ratio of caramelized, malty and slightly tangy outer surface area to inner flesh). More beersamic glaze to enjoy.

Beersamic glaze has a bit more of a tangy character and carrots are very receptive of it. And since I promised several different example of using beersamic in our last post, there is little time to waste. In the case of these beersamic roasted carrots we did not thicken the syrup with a slurry, it is a pure reduction.

Read this post to learn How to Make Beersamic.

Being a huge fan of the produce selection at Trader Joe's I frequently pick up a bag of their multi-colored smallish carrots. They call them Les Petites Carrots of Many Colors. So poetic - they are the cutest and most colorful looking root vegetables ever.

Did you know that the orange colored carrot which seems to be the most common one today was purposefully cultivated? The earliest carrots were purple and yellow, later on white and red varieties were recorded and finally the orange one. There is a tale (not entirely factually confirmed) that orange carrots were developed and cultivated in sixteenth century Netherlands in honor of William of the Dutch House of Orange. Most likely though, there were orange mutations of purple carrots that tasted better and they were then purposefully stabilized and cultivated.

Brush beersamic over the carrots and roast in a 400F oven #beersamic

Beersamic brushed over carrots prior to roasting. Brush once more after ten minutes of roasting and continue to roast until soft and beginning to caramelize. #beersamic

You can find multi-colored young carrots at the organic section of many markets. If not, just use regular orange ones and if they are too big slice them lengthwise - in half or in quarters if needed. To achieve the favorable ratio of surface area to inner flesh of course.

Besides that, making beersamic roasted carrots boils down to preparing a beersamic glaze and liberally smothering it over the carrots.

When cooking for our small family I like to use an eight inch iron cast skillet. It almost perfectly accommodates a pound of carrots and any small carrot overlaps are just fine. By the time they are done roasting the carrots get smaller in size and skillet becomes an even better fit.

If preparing this side dish for a larger party a quarter sized sheet pan works beautifully. Brushed with cooking oil, the carrots arranged across, seasoned with salt and pepper and bathed in beersamic. Ready for the oven.

An important note - I have found that roasting time can vary greatly from one carrot variety to another as well as with size. Sometimes when I want to keep the carrots whole instead of cutting them in halves or quarters to ensure they cook through I blanch them first. Blanching for just a couple of minutes gives them a head start to achieving the inside tenderness needed for the perfect beersamic roasted carrots.

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