It is not an everyday deal to find fresh vegetables straight out of the farm in the supermarkets. In fact, it is not very easy finding fresh, clean or local produce in the super markets these days. I see Kiwis from New Zealand, Oranges from Egypt, Apples from America and so on. I don’t know whatever is happening to the amazing local produce that we are forced to import stuff from elsewhere. The fact that these imported products seem fresh raises multiple alarms in me as to how many preservatives are being used. Sigh.

I am big fan of Star Bazaar (this is genuinely from my experience and not sponsored) and all the measures they take to bring in local produce. During a weekend, I saw fresh baby carrots – stems and all. Given how fresh they were, I couldn’t help picking some myself.

I did not have a recipe in mind. I don’t even know what I was thinking, buying a bunch of baby carrots. If not anything, we can munch them as it is, was my thought. Once home, I realized I could roast them in the oven. I had some nice oranges and decided to use them too. And then, adding honey along with olive oil seemed like a good idea. So it was roasted carrots with orange zest/juice and honey that I made.

I was so impressed with these fresh carrots, I couldn’t stop clicking pictures. Infact I spent a lot of time clicking them than cooking them 😀

At one point, the husband had to intervene for I had not cooked any lunch being engrossed in photographing these carrots. Soon, the lunch was made and served. And I was back to my camera and carrots. With a lot of apprehension, I had to chop off the stems if I had to roast these  – in spite of them being so beautiful! I still let a small part of the stem in each carrot for vanity purposes. I scrubbed through the skin of the carrot to remove any dirt and roasted these carrots along with the skin. If required, peel off the skin although I would not recommend it, especially for these baby carrots.

 

  1. Preheat the oven at 180°C for 7-10 mins.
  2. In a bowl, add scrubbed/thoroughly washed baby carrots. Add orange zest, orange juice, olive oil and salt. Gently mix these through the baby carrots. Let them sit for 5 mins.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the oven tray by lining it with aluminum foil. Place the carrots on the tray so that they do not touch each other. Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20-25 mins.
  4. Keep an eye on the oven and keep moving the carrots around so that they are roasted evenly. Remove from the oven once the carrots look roasted and tender. Serve hot as it is!

I did not remove the skin of the baby carrots, but the skin can be peeled off if desired. For additional zing, add some lemon zest too. With honey and orange juice, the carrots can be a bit sweet. Add pepper powder if desired. Lining the tray with aluminum foil helps in roasting the carrots evenly. Olive oil gives a nice flavor to the roasted carrots. But any other vegetable oil can be used. If any fresh herbs are available, add them to the carrots and roast along. Keep an eye on the carrots while in the oven. The oven temperature and timings differ for different ovens.

If you wish to get regular updates on my recipes, do follow me on Facebook @ Cooking From My Heart. You can also reach to me at [email protected] for any suggestions or queries 🙂 Taking these Honey Orange Roasted Oranges to Fiesta Friday #115. This week’s party is being hosted by Angie along with Julie @ Hostess At Heart and Ashley @ Too Zesty.