Brown butter carrots with honey and hazelnuts
Most home cooks under-roast carrots and over-sweeten them. Roast them hard enough that the edges go dark and chewy, then glaze with brown butter, which brings nuttiness and a bitterness that balances the honey. This is the side dish that makes people ask what you did. You browned butter. That's it.
By Jarrett Kahler
Method
- Roast the carrots hot.Oven to 450°F. Toss the carrots with olive oil and a generous pinch of salt on a half sheet pan, cut-side down, not touching. Roast 20 to 25 minutes without turning, until the undersides are deeply browned and a knife slides in easily.
- Brown the butter.While they roast, melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. It will foam, then quiet, then the milk solids on the bottom will turn golden and smell like toasted nuts, 4 to 6 minutes. Swirl often. The moment the solids are the color of a hazelnut skin, pull it off the heat.
- Make the glaze.Off the heat, stir the honey and vinegar into the brown butter. It will spit for a second. Taste: it should be nutty, a little sweet, a little sharp.
- Glaze and finish.Pull the carrots from the oven, pour the glaze over, and toss on the pan. Return to the oven for 3 minutes so the glaze clings. Pile onto a platter, scatter the hazelnuts and parsley, and finish with flaky salt.
Chef's note
Brown butter goes from perfect to burnt in about thirty seconds. Use a pan with a light interior so you can see the color, and have the honey and vinegar measured before you start. If it does burn, throw it out and start over; there's no rescuing it.
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