Roast Carrots with Cheddar Cheese Crumb

Roast carrots with cheddar cheese crumb with orange honey and mustard dressing.

The key to making food taste delicious is to have the confidence to know how to combine different tastes, textures and temperatures. This recipe shows you how to do that with a few time-saving, flavour-boosting tricks thrown in.

Roasting vegetables brings out their natural sweetness and adds a toasty flavour, meaning they are more delicious and more likely to be gobbled by children. If you’re making this for people who may not like all the elements, put all the separate bits on the table and let people make their own combinations to suit them. That way you’re just making one recipe and it is more likely to be eaten without drama.

In this recipe, the cool creaminess of the feta works so well with hot roasted carrots. Add in the savoury crunch of the cheese biscuit crumbs and the sharpness of the dressing and every mouthful will be delicious.

This easy recipe works just as well as a side dish as it does as a warm salad for lunch. You can make this into more of a salad by sitting the roasted carrots and their toppings on a bed of rocket or watercress. If you want to prep ahead, you can roast the carrots the day before, let them go cool and leave them in the fridge and then reheat them in a hot oven for 5 minutes before assembling.

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan).

2. Wash the carrots but don’t peel them. Chop the stalk end off by laying them next to each other, then cutting a few at a time. If the carrots are small, leave them whole - you want them to be around the size of a finger. If they are big, cut them in half lengthways and then in half across.

3. Place the carrots on a metal roasting tray so they are spread out. If they are crowded, they will steam rather than roast. Scatter with the salt and oil and toss before putting in the oven for 25-35 minutes until they are starting to turn dark golden at the ends and squish when you press them. Different sized carrots will take different times so pop them back in the oven and carry on cooking, checking every 5 minutes if they’re not ready. Be brave, colour = flavour.

4. While the carrots cook, make a quick dressing by putting the honey, mustard and half the vinegar in a jam jar with a pinch of salt and shaking it.

5. Crumble the cheese biscuits into a bowl using your fingers and set aside.

6. When the carrots are ready, take them out of the oven and while they are still hot, drizzle them with three quarters of the dressing. Dressing them while they are hot means they will absorb the flavours better.

7. To serve, lay the hot carrots on a platter, drizzle over the remaining dressing and crumble over the feta. Then scatter the cheese biscuit crumbs over. Snip the cress over and finish with freshly ground black pepper. Taste one of the carrots with a bit of the feta and dressing and then add more salt, pepper or vinegar as needed. Serve immediately as it is or alongside roast chicken or turkey.