These sweet and spicy carrot fries were born this afternoon after my dad and Rosemary came to visit bearing gifts from their fall garden. In addition to a bag of Meyer Lemons, a basil plant and assorted baked goods and homemade jellies, there was a huge bag of carrots with dirt still clinging to the roots. Merry Christmas to ME!
Home grown produce makes me happy!
Aren’t they PRETTY?
It has been exactly one year since we made the move from Beaumont to the hill country. We love it here, but there are three things I miss about Beaumont, Texas. 1. The AMAZING people – (we seriously miss you guys) 2. Chaba Thai Restaurant-unexpected town for great Thai- but I assure you it’s there, and I miss it 3. Our Garden. Not much room for a garden in our current rental. BUT, our builder assures us we are FINALLY going to break ground on our dream home January 4th. I am jumping up and down on the inside!!! All I want for Christmas is to start on this house! With 6 acres, we will have room to grow whatever our little hearts desire. Well, whatever our hearts desire that can take the Texas sun and that the deer won’t eat. More on that later. For now, I’m just grateful for garden gifts from my friends and family. Back to these sweet and spicy carrot fries!
These are awesome because. 1. They are incredibly simple 2. You can play around with the spices 3. Easy way to get your kid (and mine) to eat some veggies.
It’s also an excuse to use my closely guarded maple syrup that a friend brought us back from an East Coast vacation. It’s like candy. I could drink it. I could bathe in it. The brand is Stuart and John’s – they hand make this amazing stuff in New Hampshire and I have recently discovered that they SHIP! Stocking stuffer ideas, anyone? Link to their website here. This is also another pretty delicious organic option I like that I recently found at my local grocery store. As much as I love this stuff, I don’t like my carrots super sweet. These are not “candied carrots”. They still taste like carrots, with a little caramelization from the sugar and a spicy kick from the cayenne.
Super simple prep
Just 20 minutes in the oven
Sweet and Spicy Carrot Fries
Sweet and spicy carrot fries-these puppies are magic. Make them in 30 minutes and then watch them disappear!
- 1 lb carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut into match sticks. Roughly 1/4" square
- Olive oil to coat
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- 1 t pure maple syrup
- 1/4 t cayenne- more or less depending on your spice preference. I personally like just a smidge more
- big pinch curry powder
- big pinch hot paprika
- Heat oven to 400 degrees
- Cut your carrots- they don't have to be perfect- just try to make sure they all have roughly the same surface area so they will cook evenly.
- Line a large, rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Spread carrots out on baking sheet
- Toss carrots with enough olive oil to coat
- Drizzle maple syrup over the carrots
- Sprinkle with salt and the spices-feel free to play around with amounts and your own add ins- this is just my favorite combination
- Toss everything together and spread carrots out evenly.
- Slide pan into the oven for about 20 minutes, tossing them a few times while they bake.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
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