Roasted carrots with rosemary and citrus

Oh, the various joys of home and kitchen challenges..! You may be surprised to find out that having been without an oven for over a month and a half, the first thing that I made as soon as the new oven finally went into my kitchen were these roasted carrots.

Why? There’s no simpler way to test an oven than to caramelize some beautiful root vegetables, and these carrots were delicious and sweet like candy, even when they were raw.

Coaxing out the deeper, more complex and earthy flavors of the carrots saw the addition of some, perhaps unexpected, flavors and spices – tangerine peels, rosemary springs, grapefruit juice, and red pepper flakes.

My apartment was filled with the scent of caramelizing natural sugars and fresh herbs in no time and felt like home again.

Roasted carrots with rosemary and citrus

You’ll need:

• two bushels fresh, crisp carrots, washed and trimmed
• 3-4 fresh rosemary sprigs
• the peel of one tangerine
• 1/3 cup pink grapefruit juice
• 1/3 t red pepper flakes
• salt, pepper
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Line a baking sheet with foil. Lay carrots out in a single layer, add rosemary and citrus peels all around.
2. Drizzle carrots with olive oil and juice. Add red pepper and a good pinch of salt and regular pepper, to taste.
3. Roast for about 25 minutes until just browned, tossing and rotating once in the middle of the roasting time.