Grilled Carrots With Yogurt, Carrot-Top Oil and Dukkah

By Yotam Ottolenghi

Updated February 17, 2020

  • Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
4(469)
Comments
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You can serve these carrots with Greek yogurt, or with homemade labneh, if you start the night before (see Tip below). This recipe calls for making your own dukkah: You’ll have more than you need, but keep any leftovers in a sealed container to sprinkle over salads, grilled meat or fish. A bunch of carrots from your farmers’ market will work best here, but you can also use regular carrots that have been halved or quartered lengthwise. If you can’t find bunches of carrots with their fresh tops, you can prepare the oil using parsley instead, or double the tarragon for an even more herbaceous version.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

FOR THE CARROTS AND CARROT-TOP OIL

  • 2 ¼ pounds/1 kilogram (6-inch/15-centimeter) carrots with greens attached

  • ¾ cup/40 grams roughly chopped fresh tarragon leaves

  • ½ cup/120 milliliters olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 3 tablespoons/50 grams honey (runny honey)

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar

  • 1 ⅔ cups/400 grams full-fat Greek yogurt

FOR THE DUKKAH

  • ¼ cup/35 grams blanched hazelnuts, toasted

  • ¼ cup/35 grams pine nuts, toasted

  • 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons black and white sesame seeds, toasted

  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted

  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano

  • ½ teaspoon sweet paprika

  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

49 grams carbs; 13 milligrams cholesterol; 650 calories; 27 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 48 grams fat; 11 grams fiber; 1015 milligrams sodium; 16 grams protein; 26 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Wash and peel the carrots and trim the tops, leaving about 1 inch/3 centimeters of the greens attached. Measure out 1 packed cup/40 grams leafy carrot tops and wash well to get rid of any grit. Squeeze out as much water as possible, and pat dry. Roughly chop the carrot tops then transfer them to a blender.

  2. Step 2

    Add the tarragon, 6 ½ tablespoons/100 milliliters oil and a small pinch of salt. Blitz until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as needed, then transfer the mixture to a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Strain the mixture, extracting as much oil as possible. (You should have about 3 tablespoons/45 milliliters.) Discard the solids.

  3. Step 3

    Meanwhile, prepare a steamer for your carrots by heating water in your steamer or setting a colander over a large pot with a few inches of simmering water. Once ready, add the carrots and steam for 10 minutes, or until you can easily pierce the thick parts with a knife but the carrots are not overly soft. Transfer the carrots to a large, shallow dish along with the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons/20 milliliters oil, plus ½ teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper. Toss to combine.

  4. Step 4

    In a large bowl, whisk the honey, vinegar and a tiny pinch of salt. Set aside.

  5. Step 5

    Make the dukkah: Add all the dukkah ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times until the nuts are roughly chopped. (You should have 1 scant cup.)

  6. Step 6

    Heat a well-oiled grill pan over high. Working in a few batches to avoid overcrowding, grill the carrots on all sides, about 6 minutes per batch. Transfer the grilled carrots to the bowl with the honey dressing, and toss gently to combine.

  7. Step 7

    Season the yogurt with ¼ teaspoon salt, then spread it out on a large platter. Drizzle all over with the carrot-top oil then add the carrots, arranging them artfully so they’re all facing the same direction. Spoon a generous amount of dukkah on top and pass the rest.

Tip

  • To make your own labneh, combine 2¾ cups/650 grams plain full-fat yogurt with ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a medium bowl. Transfer the mixture to a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean tea towel, folding the overhang over the yogurt. Place the colander over a larger bowl and top with a couple cans or other heavy items to apply weight to the mixture. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours, then squeeze out any excess liquid and transfer the labneh to a container.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
469 user ratings
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Comments

itinerantcook

That's a lot of work (both prep and clean-up) and time for a side dish. 2-step steaming & grilling could be eliminated by cooking the carrots in 1/8 inch of water in a cast-iron skillet, and then "dry-roasting"/charring them in the same pan once the water has been absorbed, maybe adding 1/2 tsp. of oil to prevent sticking. Also, small-batch Greek-style yogurts WITHOUT pectin at Whole Foods are a better alternative to bought labneh, in which US manufacturers misguidedly use cream. Just sayin'.

Mirielle

What a mess when I followed the recipe. I had a sink and a sieve covered with oil which made my dishwasher (my spouse) upset. The two step cooking of the carrots was too much work. But the dukkah topping was delicious. So this time I am oven roasting the carrots after drizzling them with oil. I blitzed the carrot tops with oil and made a dressing with the oil and honey and vinegar. Top with dukkah. Easier and yummy.

John Neill

How great it is to have the recipe include metric! Thank you -- I'm not a USA citizen you can tell! HOWEVER if you're using (divinely naturally sweet) 'baby' carrots (as shown ) you only need to very lightly 'scrub' them clean..peeling would mean you'd have very little carrots left at all! I also microwave mine very short time in a cling film-covered Pyrex ..dead easy! & less fuss/washing up. Oh & high quality dukka mixes are now readily avail for the time-poor cooks out there!

Anne B

If you follow the recipe, you'll end up with something as beautiful as the photo. It is reasonably tasty; everyone will eat it happily. It uses an astonishing number of pots and pans and has more sub-processes than you realize. I think it would be easy to triple or quadruple the recipe. It could be a beautiful holiday side dish, but some advice. Blenders might not work for a small batch, and transferring to a food processor is tragically messy.

kgansky

This was fantastic! We did decide to use a Moroccan Spice Blend that had the same spice ingredients as the Dukkah and added hazelnuts and pine nuts.

lgbegen

Yes, it takes a bit of time although much of it can be done in advance. Absolutely phenomenal!!

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