O, Boiled Carrot!

an argument for the simplest side

Programming note: in observance of MY BIRTHDAY, Mess Hall will be off next week.

Carrots do not have an image issue. They are chameleonic, they are sweet, they are inoffensive, you can basically do whatever to them. Roast, pickle, grate, braise, crudité, stick under a chicken in the oven, you get it. I’ve never seen someone turn up their nose at a carrot the way they might at a rutabaga, a brussels sprout, a sunchoke, etc. We can all agree on a carrot.

But still, I often find myself with a bunch of carrots—maybe from my CSA—banging around in my fridge, unsure what to do with them. The canvas they offer is almost too blank. I usually end up roasting them as a hail mary, once they have gone wrinkly and limp. I am always struck by how delicious a roast carrot¹ continues to be, and I am always wishing for another option.

In December I was making short ribs for some friends and wanting for a vegetable side, and had a fresh (not yet wrinkly) bunch of CSA carrots in the crisper drawer. I didn’t want to roast them—something about the wrinkly skins of roast carrots jockeying for textural attention with the short ribs didn’t feel right. I wanted to do the simplest thing possible to them, to save myself additional work. And I wanted a shock of orange on the table, as if the carrots had been stripped naked and amplified. So I just poached them, in well-salted water, and plopped them on a plate drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with flaky salt, and somehow they were my favorite part of the meal.

I have since come to think of poached carrots as an undersung vegetable side. If you have very good carrots—which will begin to appear at the farmers markets soon, if they haven’t already, the skinny spindly spring variety that are delicate and sweet—you can just poach them until they’re fork tender, and drizzle with good oil and salt, a pinch of pepper flakes if you’re feeling freaky. You will be shocked by the way they sing CARROT! CARROT!, their chorus the purest expression of beta carotene you’ve ever tasted. While I will rarely peel carrots to roast, I think peeling for poaching is important: you’ll get a tender, glossy-looking result. And the poach is also crucial—cooking them at a gentle simmer will avoid a carrot that is mushy on the outside and crunchy on the inside. As with so many things, a cake tester can be useful here.

If you have perfectly acceptable carrots from the regular degular grocery store—as most of us do—you can do a little more with them (or not), and cater their seasonings to your whims or your menu.

Brown a little butter and pour it over them. Maybe scatter that with some roast chickpeas and a canopy of chives.

Do as I did for lunch this week, and poach your carrots in a pot of water you’ll then make some instant noodles in. (Mine were Kiki’s.) When your noodles are done, bloom some crushed sichuan peppercorns and cumin (I’m LOVING this) in a bit of oil until they’re fragrant and sizzling², and pour that over your carrots with a pinch of salt and some chopped cilantro.

i have once again learned how to poach an egg (you just drop it in simmering water)

Plop them atop some polenta with a pork chop. Or cook a virtuous little piece of fish and toss your carrots with a spoonful of chili crisp and some lemon zest.

Or do as Clio does, (h/t Clio’s aunt), and make the following salad. It’s easy enough to make at an airbnb or someone else’s house (as Clio often does); you can even boil the carrots at home, and assemble at the party. It’s zippy enough that everyone will raise their eyebrows at it happily, but plays well with basically any table of food.

And be sure to salt your poaching water like pasta water, so your carrots actually taste like themselves.

Carrot and Cumin Salad with Coriander

Adapted slightly from a photo that Clio sent me—thank you Clio! Serves 6-8 as a side.

A bunch of carrots (about 6)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium clove of garlic
Juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped
Salt to taste

Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. Peel the carrots, drop them in, and cook at a gentle simmer until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain and allow to cool and to dry. Keep them whole, or if feeding a larger group, cut them on the bias into a few long slices.

Place the cumin seeds in a small pan and set it over medium heat. Toast, stirring frequently, until they become fragrant and begin to turn darker, about 2 minutes. Pound the seeds in a mortar until smooth, then add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pound until everything breaks down.

(If you don’t have whole cumin seeds, you get away with toasting ~ 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin for a minute or two, miroplaning or mincing the garlic, and mixing those together with the salt in a small bowl.)

Add the lemon juice, sugar, and olive oil to the cumin-garlic mixture. Toss the carrots in the dressing with the chopped coriander, saving handful of herbs to place over top. Serve at room temperature.

1. Only now that I write this am I remembering this perfect carrot soup, which is so simple and good, which I need to make STAT!!!!!

2. This is basically chhonk, or tadka, for which you can find an excellent primer here.