Day 56: Butter-Simmered & Chutney-Glazed Carrots ♥

Two recipes today! First, a new way to cook carrots, with a little butter and seasoning right in the cooking water. This is a super-simple technique but makes a huge difference! The carrots practically cook themselves while you're working on the rest of dinner! And then, if you're inclined? Toss the carrots with chutney and mustard, such a simple way to doctor cooked carrots!

Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weeknight Easy. Scales from Small Plates to Large Platters. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian & Easily Vegan. Naturally Gluten Free.

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The Basic Way to Boil Carrots

Water and salt, right? Just throw some carrot chunks into boiling, salted water and cook just until tender. And then, sure, toss the hot carrots with a bit of butter and season with salt and pepper. That's the usual way.

The Better Way to Boil Carrots

This technique creates, wow, the best simply cooked carrots I've ever tasted. And the technique is so incredibly simple, you just might not believe that something so "minor" can make such a major difference. There are two steps.

Step One. Briefly cook the carrots in a covered saucepan in a small amount of water (1/4 cup per pound of carrots) "seasoned" with butter, sugar, salt and pepper.

Step Two. Remove the heat, raise the heat and let the water cook off, leaving the carrots in a slightly sweet, buttery sauce.

Here's why this works. The carrots absorb the butter and seasonings while they cook, seasoning the carrots throughout instead of just coating them on the outside! Then the water is cooked off, glazing the carrots.

Brilliant, yes? Especially because the very same technique can be used not only with carrots but also with other vegetables!

And Then Gild the Lily

To take the carrots to still another level, toss the carrots in a little sweet (chutney) and heat (mustard). Again, delicious!

This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long ever since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!

BEST RECIPES!
Chutney-Glazed Carrots Made the 2005 List!
Favorite Vegetable Recipes

COMPLIMENTS!
"These were great." ~ Sarabeth

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RECIPE for BUTTER-SIMMERED CARROTS

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes
Serves 4

Just 4 ingredients!

1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper, optional or to taste
1 pound carrots, peeled & trimmed, cut into chunks

For Chutney-Glazed Carrots
2 tablespoons prepared chutney
2 teaspoons smooth or whole-grain Dijon mustard

Combine the water, butter, sugar, salt and pepper and carrots in medium saucepan over MEDIUM HIGH (get a small head start by turning the stove on with water and butter, then adding other ingredients) and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to MEDIUM and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat a bit, then cook, stirring occasionally, until water boils away and carrots are cooking in the butter or oil. Reduce the heat a bit and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are cooked. (If you're making Chutney-Glazed Carrots, move to the next paragraph.) Season to taste with additional salt and pepper and serve.

For Chutney-Glazed Carrots, stir in the chutney and mustard.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
These might also be good for someone who needs to limit their sodium intake: even to my salt-happy palate, these tasted quite delicious with zero salt.
I also like the summer brightness of fresh mint tucked into the carrots after they'd cooked.

NUTRITION INFORMATION
Butter-Simmered Carrots Per Serving: 75 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 7mg Cholesterol; 98mg Sodium; 12g Carb; 3g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 1g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 2 & myWW green 2 & blue 2 & purple 2 (but two servings are 3 points)
Chutney-Glazed Carrots Per Serving: 102 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 7mg Cholesterol; 161mg Sodium; 18g Carb; 3g Fiber; 11g Sugar; 1g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 3 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 3 & myWW green 3 & blue 3 & purple 3

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More Favorite Carrot Recipes

~ Bourbon-Glazed Carrots ~
~ Creamy Carrot Purée ~
~ "Wonderful" Glazed Turnips & Carrots ~
~ Chilled Carrot Soup with Honey ~
~ more carrot recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup ~
~ Mashed Potatoes & Carrots ~
~ Baked Cabbage Wedges ~
~ Celebration Salad (Maple-Roasted Carrots with Arugula, Dill, Cranberry Vinaigrette, Pomegranate and Glazed Pecans) ~
~ more carrot recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

Seasonal Eating: Late Spring Across the Years

Fresh Kohlrabi Spinach "Jelly Roll" Pancake Butter-Simmered Carrots Chutney-Glazed Carrots Pied Piper Refrigerator Pickles Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter Pasta with Shrimp, Asparagus & Sun-dried Tomato Eggplant Caviar Kalyn's Roasted Asparagus & Mushrooms Arugula Salad with Smoked Trout & Peach Preserve Dressing Pimm's Originals for a Mother-Daughter Weekend Spinach Burgers Barely Roasted Asparagus Warm Black-eyed Peas with Yogurt & Ginger Easy Coleslaw with Blue Cheese & Apple Easy Easy Radish Appetizer Afghan Eggplant & Tomato Casserole (Borani Banjan) Deep Mexico Carrot Soup with Tomatillo & Lime Jicama-Mango Salsa with Chipotle

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Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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