Roasted Carrots

Short version: everything tastes better roasted. I wish I'd known this 35 years sooner.

Longer version:
Last week, one of the local farms had some baby carrots that they'd kept over the winter. They weren't so baby any more, but I bought them anyway. They were cheap and lovely to look at. And I thought I'd see if I liked them roasted. Growing up, I was forced to eat carrots whole and raw. Those were the days before baby carrots and I absolutely hated that bitter center of an "adult" carrot. Just one of a number of ways my mom made me think I hated vegetables. Anyhoo...

I got them home and stuck them in a Ziploc bag so they wouldn't dry out. What I did not know is that I should have cut the greenery off first. Apparently, the greens steal water from the carrots and dry them out. Luckily, I didn't have them around that long.

Then, I set about finding a way to prepare them. On the first page of results, I saw a link for The Pioneer Woman. She'd visited Nashville recently and a bunch of local foodie friends were excited, so I checked out the recipe. It was simple, promised to be delicious, and included thyme. Full of win! I have thyme in the herb garden and rarely have use for it, so this was exciting!

So here's the recipe for roasted carrots. And here's the Cliff's version:

1. Remove any greenery
2. Cut the carrots in half length-wise
3. Coat in extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and fresh thyme leaves (and pepper, if you like)
4. Arrange in a single layer in your roasting pan
5. Cook for 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees (they should be wrinkly in appearance and you should be able to spear them easily with a fork)
6. Eat these freaking delicious carrots

The Pioneer Woman's post (actually, Pastor Ryan) is more eloquent, but above is all you need to know. And that you will love these carrots even if you think you hate carrots.