the daily paleo

Famous “paleo” chili wins office chili competition. Film at 11.

As I heated up this chili in the office kitchen today, in preparation for a chili throw-down, it drew waves of compliments by folks drawn in by the inviting aroma. I’ve been making this recipe for several years; even without the orange-avocado cream garnish, it’s certifiably delicious… and perfectly paleo, if you care about such things. It comes together easily with mostly pantry ingredients, freezes beautifully, and smells incredible. Make it with a can of pureed pumpkin for maximum ease - I always do.

Note that there isn’t a pre-made chili spice mixture here; you create your own, so be sure to check your spice rack before you start.

Paleo Pumpkin Chili, directly from Health-Bent

Ingredients

For the Chili

2 lbs ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
½ sugar pumpkin, diced (about 3 cups) or a 14 oz can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie)
1 (28 oz) can diced, fire roasted tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (7 oz) can diced, roasted green chilies
1 c chicken or beef stock
FOC (fat of choice)
S&P

Chili Spice Mixture

2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 T paprika
2 t salt
2 t coriander
2 t cinnamon
2 t cocoa powder
1 t garlic powder
½ t cayenne

Orange, Coriander Avocado Cream (optional but delicious)

2 avocados
zest of 1 orange
juice of 2 oranges
1 t coriander
½ t salt

Method

For the Chili

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat with a tablespoon of your F.O.C. Add the beef and let it brown. Try not to stir it too much until you get some color on one side but make sure you break up the pieces. This should take 5-8 minutes.

While you’re browning the beef, make the spice mixture. In a medium bowl, mix up all the spices.

We like to brown the beef first so we can use the fat that renders out to cook the vegetables. So, using a slotted spoon remove the beef and place in the spice mixture bowl…leaving the fat in the pot. Add your diced onion and garlic. Let those two saute for a few minutes (3-4) stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened. Add your diced or canned pumpkin.

Cover and cook about another 8-10  minutes, stirring occasionally until the pumpkin begins to get tender (check with a fork). Add the rest of ingredients and the beef/spice mixture. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer to let all the flavors meld. (Here the recipe says “when you’re happy with the flavor, you’re done.” I disagree; I cover it partially, turn the heat down, and cook it for at least 30 minutes on low. Stir it frequently because the pumpkin will try to burn.)

For the Cream

Add all ingredients to a bowl or a food processor and blend until smooth. (You can also mash with a fork.)

Super easy short ribs, crockpot style

I’ve made and loved many fancy short-rib recipes, but sometimes you just want to throw five things into the crockpot at midnight and be done with it. Fortunately, you can still make very tasty short ribs this way.

This America’s Test Kitchen recipe calls for just a few ingredients that you probably have around, and doesn’t ask you to sear the meat before putting it into the crock pot. As always, try to make this the day before you want to eat it, so that your fridge can do the work of separating out the fat; short ribs taste much better after a day in the fridge and a good skimming.

This recipe has a novel step: microwaving the aromatics briefly before adding them to the slow cooker. If you are truly strapped for prep time, just skip it and put all the ingredients raw into the crock pot. 

Rustic Italian Braised Beef Short Ribs, adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s Slow Cooker Revolution, Volume 2

• 4 10-oz boneless short ribs OR slightly more bone-in (I used 2 packs of Herondale bone-in ribs), trimmed of excess fat
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 10 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 3 TBS tomato paste (or sub some of the drained-off tomato liquid, below)
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 TSP dried oregano
• ½ TSP red pepper flakes
• 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained (unless you need the liquid to sub for tomato paste)
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: ¼ cup chopped fresh basil to serve

1. Microwave the onions, garlic, tomato paste if using, oil, oregano and pepper flakes in a bowl, sirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker. Stir in tomatoes. 

2. Trim the short ribs, season with salt and pepper, and nestle into the slow cooker. Cover and cook until beef is tender, 8-9 hours on low or 5-6 on high. (I did one hour one high and 6 on low.)

3. If not eating right away (recommended), fish out the meat and put it in one container. Pour all the liquid into a separate container, and store both in the fridge. To serve, skim the solid fat from the sauce. Shred the meat and put it in a saucepan with sauce; cover it, and reheat through. (You can also microwave it, covered, but keep the meat submerged in both cases so it doesn’t dry out.) If using basil, slice it and sprinkle over to serve.

4. If you are eating it right after cooking, take the short ribs out of the crock pot to a serving dish and tent with foil. Strain sauce into a fat separator, reserving tomatoes, and let sit for 5 minutes. Add reserved tomatoes to now-empty slow cooker and break into large chunks with the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in defatted sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over short ribs and sprinkle with basil. Serve.

thedailypaleo:

Summer of Jam + A Giveaway

In June, I made a failed small batch of strawberry jam. By the time I finished with it, it wasn’t even jam, really. It was four small jars of strawberry rubber.

This failure wounded me. Deeply. I beat my chest, standing there sweating at my stove, and made a pledge to make jam my bitch.

Eight weeks and about 130 jars later, I’ve worked my way through strawberries (8 batches), sour cherries (5 batches), nectarines, blackberries, peaches (3 flavors) and tomatoes. (Sweet tomato jam is great, don’t knock it.) 

All of it is canned jam; that is, it was cooked on the stove and then preserved in glass canning jars in a hot-water bath. I’ve not cared for the “freezer jelly” I’ve had, plus I prefer to reserve my freezer space for meat. 

Canning isn’t hard at all and you don’t need a ton of special equipment; I don’t have a special pot for it, for instance. I just use a soup pot. 

You also don’t need to commit to a huge batch of jam like you may remember your mother or grandmother making. I make NYC-apartment sized batches, and there’s plenty of good info out there on how to do this.

Getting good flavor from good fruit isn’t hard, either. You can dump basically any good seasonal fruit into a pot and cook it with a ton of sugar and it will taste awesome. Most of my jams have very little in the way of added flavorings for that very reason; ripe in-season fruit is the best-tasting thing in the world, so I don’t gild the lily. 

The challenge, it turns out, is the consistency. 

All fruit has some natural pectin, but it varies widely from fruit to fruit, variety to variety and even within a given harvest. Some of the strawberries I jammed firmed up instantly; some produced what could charitably be called strawberry sauce, not jam. 

As each new fruit comes into season, I now know I’ll need to make successive small batches to calibrate the texture. What I like in jam, besides pure fruit flavor, is a certain very chunky texture; I want to see the fruit suspended in the jelly, and be able to bite into it and experience its fruitiness as a reminder of how glorious it tasted when it was hours off the vine or the tree. Strawberries are my favorite food in the world, and their season is short (don’t ever serve me those red monstrosities Driscoll ships all over the world. I will hurt you.) So when I can them, I want the jam to be a snapshot of the fruit’s perfection.

That’s my preference, of course, and I’ve had to re-learn how to create that with each new fruit that arrives at the farmers market. 

To learn how to can, you really need some reliable instruction. The ideal scenario would be a personal relationship with an experienced canner, plus a good modern cookbook by someone who’s up to speed with new canning safety recommendations and, ideally, who has a palate you identify with. As much as I wish I had that grandmother figure, I don’t; but I do have a preserving cookbook and accompanying blog I love.

Marisa McClellan is a Philadelphia-based cookbook author and certified master canner. Her blog, FoodinJars, is a leader in the preserving space, and her point of view as a modern person in a small urban kitchen means she writes for people like me. Additionally, she has extensive canning experience and is a certified master canner; while this may sound kind of silly, it’s actually very important. 

It means she understands why you can’t can green beans like your grandmother did (or my own mother did) because modern food science has shown it’s not safe.  She understands the ratio of sugar to fruit you need, and she understands how to acidify low-acid foods so they can be safely preserved. You need to know all of this.

I’m all about the Internet when it comes to recipes. But trust me - don’t use random recipes for canning. Until you’re an expert, use tested recipes from trusted sources.

Last year, I bought the preserving cookbooks published by the Ball company (makers of Ball canning jars) but struggled with the large quantities the recipes called for. And you can’t just halve a canning recipe and assume it will work; the chemistry of pectin and gel-points doesn’t work that way.

This year, I’ve jammed largely from Marisa’s book Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, as well as from her blog, where many of the recipes live (with useful comments.) 

Since she is in Philly, she’s on roughly the same seasonal schedule we are here in NYC; she gets most fruits a week or two earlier, then blogs about them, which is perfect for giving me some prep time. She also prefers straight-forward fruit flavor, like me, so I don’t get distracted by recipes for things like peach-chardonnay-thyme jam.

Some of the best fruits are now done for the year, but stone fruit is going strong, and it makes terrific jam that’s perfect for a beginner. The first truly successful jam I made this year was this “any stone fruit cooked in a skillet” jam from Marisa’s blog; it was small-batch, fast, and crazy good. I probably ate a quarter-cup of the jam hot from the pan the first time I made it. That recipe requires a thermometer, because there’s no pectin in the recipe, so you use the jam’s temperature to determine when it’s cooked enough to set up. So if you don’t have a thermometer and can get your hands on some liquid pectin, I’d try this peach jam first.

Basic equipment note: you can can with very little special gear. If you’re not sure you want to pursue canning, the very least you should have on hand is a big soup pot for the water bath, a second large pot for the jam, a jar lifter, and a wide-mouthed funnel. You also need jars with new lids and a source for pectin, either powder or liquid, as the recipe you’re using dictates (don’t substitute.)

And finally, a note on uses for jam. I’m not much of a bread eater, but homemade jam stirred into plain yogurt is a game-changer. Try it.

Peach Jam, from FoodinJars

*You need 6-7 pint jars with bands and new lids for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 10 cups of peaches, peeled and chopped
• 6 cups of sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 2 packets (1 box) liquid pectin

Instructions

1. Fill your canning pot with water and begin to bring it to temperature. Wash your jars and rings in warm soapy water and set aside. Put your lids in a small pot of water and heat (but do not boil) in order to soften the sealing compound.
2. Add peaches and sugar to a large, non-reactive pot. Stir so that the peaches begin to release their juice and mingle with the sugar. Bring to a boil and add cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and juice and let jam continue to cook for about fifteen minutes. If the fruit hasn’t broken down much after that time is up, use a potato masher or immersion blender (taking care not to burn yourself with hot jam) to break down the chunks. Add pectin and bring to a rolling boil for a full five minutes.
3. Turn off the heat under the jam and fill jars. Wipe rims and apply lids. Screw on the bands and lower into the water. Process in the hot water bath 10 minutes. When time is up, remove from water and cool on the counter. When the jars are cooled, check the seal by pressing on the top of the jar. If there’s no movement, the jar has sealed. Store up to one year in a cool, dark place.

Giveaway

The first two local commenters here can claim a jar of my homemade jam; we’ll work out delivery/pickup logistics after your post. Please identify yourselves!

Summer of Jam + A Giveaway

In June, I made a failed small batch of strawberry jam. By the time I finished with it, it wasn’t even jam, really. It was four small jars of strawberry rubber.

This failure wounded me. Deeply. I beat my chest, standing there sweating at my stove, and made a pledge to make jam my bitch.

Eight weeks and about 130 jars later, I’ve worked my way through strawberries (8 batches), sour cherries (5 batches), nectarines, blackberries, peaches (3 flavors) and tomatoes. (Sweet tomato jam is great, don’t knock it.) 

All of it is canned jam; that is, it was cooked on the stove and then preserved in glass canning jars in a hot-water bath. I’ve not cared for the “freezer jelly” I’ve had, plus I prefer to reserve my freezer space for meat. 

Canning isn’t hard at all and you don’t need a ton of special equipment; I don’t have a special pot for it, for instance. I just use a soup pot. 

You also don’t need to commit to a huge batch of jam like you may remember your mother or grandmother making. I make NYC-apartment sized batches, and there’s plenty of good info out there on how to do this.

Getting good flavor from good fruit isn’t hard, either. You can dump basically any good seasonal fruit into a pot and cook it with a ton of sugar and it will taste awesome. Most of my jams have very little in the way of added flavorings for that very reason; ripe in-season fruit is the best-tasting thing in the world, so I don’t gild the lily. 

The challenge, it turns out, is the consistency. 

All fruit has some natural pectin, but it varies widely from fruit to fruit, variety to variety and even within a given harvest. Some of the strawberries I jammed firmed up instantly; some produced what could charitably be called strawberry sauce, not jam. 

As each new fruit comes into season, I now know I’ll need to make successive small batches to calibrate the texture. What I like in jam, besides pure fruit flavor, is a certain very chunky texture; I want to see the fruit suspended in the jelly, and be able to bite into it and experience its fruitiness as a reminder of how glorious it tasted when it was hours off the vine or the tree. Strawberries are my favorite food in the world, and their season is short (don’t ever serve me those red monstrosities Driscoll ships all over the world. I will hurt you.) So when I can them, I want the jam to be a snapshot of the fruit’s perfection.

That’s my preference, of course, and I’ve had to re-learn how to create that with each new fruit that arrives at the farmers market. 

To learn how to can, you really need some reliable instruction. The ideal scenario would be a personal relationship with an experienced canner, plus a good modern cookbook by someone who’s up to speed with new canning safety recommendations and, ideally, who has a palate you identify with. As much as I wish I had that grandmother figure, I don’t; but I do have a preserving cookbook and accompanying blog I love.

Marisa McClellan is a Philadelphia-based cookbook author and certified master canner. Her blog, FoodinJars, is a leader in the preserving space, and her point of view as a modern person in a small urban kitchen means she writes for people like me. Additionally, she has extensive canning experience and is a certified master canner; while this may sound kind of silly, it’s actually very important. 

It means she understands why you can’t can green beans like your grandmother did (or my own mother did) because modern food science has shown it’s not safe.  She understands the ratio of sugar to fruit you need, and she understands how to acidify low-acid foods so they can be safely preserved. You need to know all of this.

I’m all about the Internet when it comes to recipes. But trust me - don’t use random recipes for canning. Until you’re an expert, use tested recipes from trusted sources.

Last year, I bought the preserving cookbooks published by the Ball company (makers of Ball canning jars) but struggled with the large quantities the recipes called for. And you can’t just halve a canning recipe and assume it will work; the chemistry of pectin and gel-points doesn’t work that way.

This year, I’ve jammed largely from Marisa’s book Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, as well as from her blog, where many of the recipes live (with useful comments.) 

Since she is in Philly, she’s on roughly the same seasonal schedule we are here in NYC; she gets most fruits a week or two earlier, then blogs about them, which is perfect for giving me some prep time. She also prefers straight-forward fruit flavor, like me, so I don’t get distracted by recipes for things like peach-chardonnay-thyme jam.

Some of the best fruits are now done for the year, but stone fruit is going strong, and it makes terrific jam that’s perfect for a beginner. The first truly successful jam I made this year was this “any stone fruit cooked in a skillet” jam from Marisa’s blog; it was small-batch, fast, and crazy good. I probably ate a quarter-cup of the jam hot from the pan the first time I made it. That recipe requires a thermometer, because there’s no pectin in the recipe, so you use the jam’s temperature to determine when it’s cooked enough to set up. So if you don’t have a thermometer and can get your hands on some liquid pectin, I’d try this peach jam first.

Basic equipment note: you can can with very little special gear. If you’re not sure you want to pursue canning, the very least you should have on hand is a big soup pot for the water bath, a second large pot for the jam, a jar lifter, and a wide-mouthed funnel. You also need jars with new lids and a source for pectin, either powder or liquid, as the recipe you’re using dictates (don’t substitute.)

And finally, a note on uses for jam. I’m not much of a bread eater, but homemade jam stirred into plain yogurt is a game-changer. Try it.

Peach Jam, from FoodinJars

*You need 6-7 pint jars with bands and new lids for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 10 cups of peaches, peeled and chopped
• 6 cups of sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 2 packets (1 box) liquid pectin

Instructions

1. Fill your canning pot with water and begin to bring it to temperature. Wash your jars and rings in warm soapy water and set aside. Put your lids in a small pot of water and heat (but do not boil) in order to soften the sealing compound.
2. Add peaches and sugar to a large, non-reactive pot. Stir so that the peaches begin to release their juice and mingle with the sugar. Bring to a boil and add cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and juice and let jam continue to cook for about fifteen minutes. If the fruit hasn’t broken down much after that time is up, use a potato masher or immersion blender (taking care not to burn yourself with hot jam) to break down the chunks. Add pectin and bring to a rolling boil for a full five minutes.
3. Turn off the heat under the jam and fill jars. Wipe rims and apply lids. Screw on the bands and lower into the water. Process in the hot water bath 10 minutes. When time is up, remove from water and cool on the counter. When the jars are cooled, check the seal by pressing on the top of the jar. If there’s no movement, the jar has sealed. Store up to one year in a cool, dark place.

Giveaway

The first two local commenters here can claim a jar of my homemade jam; we’ll work out delivery/pickup logistics after your post. Please identify yourselves!

Lamb meatballs (köfte) with optional yogurt sauce and pepper condiment

I love marinara like nobody’s business, but not all meatballs need to be swimming in tomato sauce.

With the precious ground lamb we get from our share in the Herondale Farm CSA, I frequently make these easy, garlicky lamb meatballs from a recipe I found on Epicurious. 

The prep is simple; you combine some fresh chopped herbs, garlic, spices and the meat (no breadcrumbs or binders needed), mix with your hands, form balls, and sautee for a few minutes on each side on the stovetop. That’s it. Don’t skimp on the herbs, though, especially the mint, which makes the dish.

The recipe calls for stuffing them into pita, but I just eat them right on a plate. The separate caramelized onions in the recipe were also meant to get stuffed into the pita, but I’ve used them to provide a nice, savory bed for the meatballs. I’ve also skipped the onions altogether; it’s the meatballs that makes this dish what it is.

About the yogurt sauce: I’ve made it according to the directions, as well as simplified it considerably.  Use plain Greek or Middle Eastern yogurt, nothing processed or sweet.  

The muhammara condiment is also good but not required to make the dish delicious. Making it the first time, I went ahead and sourced a bottle of pomegranate molasses. The second time I made the dish, I skipped the muhammara condiment and simplified the yogurt sauce by simply mixing yogurt and pomegranate molasses, and tossing in a bit of leftover chopped mint. Voila!

My yogurt sauce variations:

1. Just (plain Greek) yogurt

2. Yogurt plus some chopped mint and/or parsley

3. Yogurt plus a drizzle of pomegranate molasses 

4. Yogurt plus any of the above and a good squeeze of lemon juice

Here’s the recipe, adapted. 

Meatballs:

• 2 pounds ground lamb
• ½ cup minced fresh mint
• ¼ cup coarsely grated onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 11/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil, divided

Optional yogurt sauce:

• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)*
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt

Optional Muhammara:

• ½ cup finely chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons (or more) pomegranate molasses**
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

For yogurt sauce: 
Stir all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Cover and chill.

For Köfte:
Line large rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix lamb and next 8 ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant 2 tablespoonfuls for each, roll meat mixture into 1 ½-inch meatballs. Arrange on sheet.

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Transfer onions to 1 side of large rimmed baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to same skillet; heat over medium-high heat. Sauté half of meatballs until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs, adding oil to skillet if dry. Reserve skillet.

For muhammara: 
Add roasted peppers to reserved skillet; stir 1 minute. Add ½ cup water and 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses. Bring to simmer, scraping up browned bits. Cook until reduced to 2/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more pomegranate molasses, if desired. Transfer to small bowl.

Arrange onions and meatballs on platter. Serve with yogurt sauce and muhammara.

Village Fishmonger NYC fish CSA members: get ready for a surprise! The delivery today will be littleneck clams.

For tips on how long they keep (not long) and how to store (do not submerge!) check this quick link.

Cooking them can be dead easy; you just need to remember to add some time for cleaning them beforehand. You’ll see many of the recipes below featuring tomatoes; it’s the perfect time of year to take advantage of this natural pairing. There is also a grill method for you lucky ducks with outdoor space, and a chowder method in case the idea of making soup in this steaming hot weather appeals to your mashochistic tendencies.

Here are some ideas.

Super easy

Steamed littleneck clams with butter, white wine and garlic

Clams with chorizo, tomato and garlic

Clams with smoky bacon and tomatoes

Super yummy

Clams with jalapeno, lemon and basil

Portuguese clams with sausage and tomato

Goan curried clams

Grilled clams with herb butter

Santa Fe clam chowder

I cook the crap out of broccoli and I don’t care

Members of the Sol Flower Farm vegetable CSA were rewarded this week with huge heads of snappy fresh broccoli. 

For many years, I ate all my vegetables, but especially the cruciferous ones, cooked al dente (at best.) 

After a trip to Italy, spent mostly eating in various proletarian restaurants in the non-tourist sections of Rome, I realized how misguided I’d been. One notable evening, I was taken to a restaurant where you could buy a ticket to the antipasti table, with your plate in hand, to keep yourself busy while your entree was prepared. 

All the Italians in the restaurant visited the table once, then sat down, ate leisurely, and 20 minutes later welcomed big platters of protein.

I, on the other hand, was so amazed by the vegetables on the table that I went back again and again. All were perfectly seasonal and, like all Italian vegetables, local. All appeared to have been cooked the same manner: a long time. They were then dressed with a lot of olive oil and a splash of white vinegar.

They were incredible. I ate so much that I remember barely touching my beautiful seafood entree.

Fast forward a few years and I find that not only do I prefer well-cooked vegetables, they definitely prefer me.

Since the trip, I dug back into my old copies of Marcella Hazan’s Italian cookbooks and realized she had been advocating this type of preparation for a long time. As with most things, she’s right.

With last night’s broccoli, I cut it into same-sized florets, brought a big stock pot of heavily salted water to boil, and then cooked the bright green out of the broccoli (15 minutes, roughly, but that’s based on how much I had in the pot.) 

After straining and running cold water over it, I let it drain a nice long time, then spooned it into a container to eat the rest of the week at room temperature. It’s good with olive oil and vinegar as a side dish, and excellent in a green salad, where it contrasts nicely with other, crispier vegetables.

Many other green vegetables benefit from this kind of treatment; broccoli rabe and green beans come to mind. 

There are many ways to cook green vegetables, even sulfurous ones, even longer than 15 minutes. Here are some good places to start, and here’s a nice article from Saveur on the practice.

*photo from crankingkitchen.wordpress.com

Whatcha gonna do with all those carrots?

I love the tender carrots from our Sol Flower Farm CSA! Having eaten several bunches raw, however, I was ready for a different preparation.

Tonight I’ll be making this recipe, oven roasted carrot salad with feta cheese. Looks great, right? Oh, that photo is not mine; it’s courtesy Serious Eats, just like this recipe.

Oven-roasted carrot salad with feta cheese, adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

• butter, ghee or olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise into long wedges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons honey
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 ounces feta, crumbled

Method

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with foil and coat lightly with some oil or fat. Add carrots, olive oil, vinegar, and honey. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper and toss to combine. Transfer to oven to roast, stirring periodically, until edges are starting to char and carrots are softened but still have some crunch, about 25 minutes.

2. Remove from oven, toss with lemon juice and let cool to room temperature. Add feta, season with additional cracked black pepper, toss and serve.