Roasted Chantenay Carrots with Feta, Spring Onion & Pomegranate
Feta is good. PDO feta is better. That's because PDO feta is guaranteed to come from native ewes and sheep — a genealogy which in turn ensures only the best colour and flavour. Also, please don't peel Chantenay carrots; they've got so much to give. Oh. Yes. About the dish. *Ahem*. Roasting is a word we throw around like a regulation frisbee, but we believe it's important to know why we roast.
Take your gorgeous Chantenay carrots, for example. Roasting is a carameliser's best friend because it utilises a dry heat; this dry heat extracts moisture. A carrot with this golden-ratio amount of moisture removed is crisp, sticky, and delectable. Unlike its boiled cousins, which are not worthy of comment. Topped off with sweet explosions of pomegranate and the sour, creamy twang of feta... and by George, we think we've got it.
Serves 4 | Takes about 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 500g Chantenay carrots
- 200g PDO feta cheese, cubed
- 100g pomegranate seeds
- 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar
- Half a lemon
- 1 bunch spring onion, chopped fine
- 50g Sublime No. 17 Chimichurri Butter
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C fan, 400˚F, or Gas Mark 6
- In a pan of boiling water, blanch the Chantenay carrots for exactly four minutes, drain, and plunge into a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking process
- Melt the Chimichurri Butter in a sauce pan with the sugar
- In a small roasting tray, lay out the carrots and feta, pour over the butter and manhandle to coat thoroughly
- Squeeze the juice of the lemon over and add the spent lemon half into the roasting tray while you're at it. Waste not, want not
- Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and roast in the oven for 10 minutes
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle over the chopped spring onion and serve
