Thursday, August 23, 2012

Roasted Honey Balsamic Carrots

This is one of my go-to recipes for a vegetable side dish.  It's super easy.

Ingredients:
* 3 - 4 lb. baby carrots
* 2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus some for lightly coating
* salt
* fresh ground black pepper
* 2 Tablespoons honey
* 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place carrots in a gallon size zip lock bag.  Pour just enough olive oil in to coat the carrots very lightly--you will just need a tad.  Close the zip lock bag and let all the air out.  Move the carrots around in the bag using your fingers on the outside of the bag so that all the carrots will get coated.

Pour the carrots onto a baking sheet, getting them into as much of a single layer as possible.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in pourable measuring cup, whisk together the 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, honey, and balsamic vinegar.

At the end of the 20 minutes of roasting, remove the carrots from the oven.  Give the honey mixture one more whisk.  Pour over the carrots.  Stir the carrots so that they are all coated with the mixture.  Arrange into a single layer again.  Roast in the oven for 20 more minutes.  We like a little brown on them, but if you don't then roast them a little less.