Today in Minnesota, it was a cool and rainy day. A perfect day to fire up the oven and roast some veggies! I love cooked carrots and I decided to kick it up a notch and roast carrots with savory mushrooms.
I went to the local grocery and found some carrots with the full green tops on them and they were the skinny kind of carrots. Not the big thick ones you’d have to cut up to get them cooked. I guess there is nothing wrong with that, but these were easy to prepare. Cut the tops off leaving a couple inches of greenery, wash them and kind of scrub the outer skin. You don’t even have to peel these tender, little beauties. And, I must say, they make for cool looking photos!
The mushrooms I used were dried because the store didn’t have any fresh oyster or calamari mushrooms. I just thought that these would give the carrots the proper savory taste, much more so than button mushrooms or even portabellas. To use the dried mushrooms, all you have to do is soak them in water until they are nice and flexible. I soaked these for about an hour and a half. Remove the mushroom pieces from the water and use paper towels to squeeze the excess water out of them. Save the water that they were soaked in. This can be added to gravy or used in cooking to give a mushroomy essence to your dish. Save it in your refrigerator for up to a couple weeks or freeze it.
Clean your carrots and place on a sheet pan with sides. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add some herb of your choice. I sprinkled the carrots with fresh thyme leaves. Dried spices would be fine too. You just want to add another flavor profile which makes everything taste great!
Preheat your oven to 375, roast for 20 minutes, then lower the temp to 325 and add the mushrooms and roast for another 10 minutes. Take out of the oven and sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives. Yum.
Easy as that!
The mushrooms really add a different dimension to roasted carrots. Cut off a piece of carrot and stick your fork in a piece of mushroom. Next stop...your mouth!
Enjoy!
* Joe’s additional comment: I hope you are enjoying the recipes that I’ve been trying and sharing. I try to make them healthy and tasty. Sometimes they are not so healthy, as deep fried and maybe higher calorie recipes are part of what I cook up. They are good but should be enjoyed in moderation. I hope that showing you some not so healthy recipes doesn’t keep you from following my cooking. MaryJo and I really appreciate our followers and I ask that you send some comments about what you like or don’t like about what Joe’s Healthy Meals is doing.
It’s really fun showing you what we are cooking up and your input and comments are welcomed.
Thanks for being a follower!
Joe
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds carrots
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- fresh thyme (or other fresh or dried herb of your choice)
- 1 oz . dried oyster or calamari mushrooms , rehydrated, (1/3 cup chopped fresh mushrooms)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Clean and scrub carrots, then dry with paper towels
- Place in a sheet pan and coat with olive oil, then salt and pepper
- Sprinkle with thyme and thyme sprigs, (or herb of choice)
- Place in oven for 20 minutes
- Lower oven temp to 325 degrees
- Add mushroom pieces and roast for an additional 10 minutes
- Serve hot as a side dish
This would be amazing with morels.
Your photos look terrific! And I like the design/layout of your long pin! Nice job! Pinning!
Thanks Ramona!
Looks delicious. Will have to try this.
Easy, delicious dinner with roast pork and baked potatoes!