Grilled Carrots With Yogurt, Carrot-Top Oil and Dukkah
Updated Feb. 18, 2020

- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2¼pounds/1 kilogram (6-inch/15-centimeter) carrots with greens attached
- ¾cup/40 grams roughly chopped fresh tarragon leaves
- ½cup/120 milliliters olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3tablespoons/50 grams honey (runny honey)
- 1tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1⅔cups/400 grams full-fat Greek yogurt
- ¼cup/35 grams blanched hazelnuts, toasted
- ¼cup/35 grams pine nuts, toasted
- 2tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted
- 1tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons black and white sesame seeds, toasted
- 1teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
- 1teaspoon dried oregano
- ½teaspoon sweet paprika
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
For the Carrots and Carrot-top Oil
For the Dukkah
Preparation
- 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.
- Step 2
Add the tarragon, 6½ 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.
- 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 1½ tablespoons/20 milliliters oil, plus ½ teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper. Toss to combine.
- Step 4
In a large bowl, whisk the honey, vinegar and a tiny pinch of salt. Set aside.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Private Notes
Comments
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'.
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.
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!
SO DELICIOUS....No need to make it SO INVOLVED....I did not steam the carrots, I halved them and cooked them on the grill pan with a kettle on top to weight them down. They were perfect. Also did not squeeze the oil out - I used all the yummy carrot top pesto as-is. I used store bought lebneh and spread it on a platter, then the layer of carrot green pesto, then honey glazed carrots, then the dukkah (which is incredible and can be used for so much its worth making a big batch). People RAVED.
@Meri YES! I too took the carrot tops etc from Step 2 (didn't "discard the solids") plus some additional basil and nuts, but no cheese, making a freezer kept pesto. Cover barely with oil so it won't discolor. It's very handy, fresh, a more Spring-like pesto to then scrape out curls for flavor enhancing soup, pasta, veggies, scrambled eggs... Delicious and practically free!
Delicious and beautful. Skip the steaming and go directly to roasting the carrots with some olive oil at 425. turn after 10 minutes, add the honey (barrel aged salt honey is yum!) and vinegar...toss, roast till nice and caramelized. blitz the carrot tops in mini processor then squeeze with your hands. blitz the dukkah in same container. keep a jar of sukkah in fridge. delicious on all roasted veggies and on yogurt. easier then it sounds.
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