Less-is-more Chermoula Roast Carrots

This is a really simple and flexible recipe. I love it.

And it is exactly how I never used to make roast veg. What I used to do was get a selection of really lovely vegetables; squash or courgettes, garlic, onion, mushrooms, sweet potato (you know, whatever was in the cupboard!) and then chop them all up and make a nice mix of olive oil and some spices and chilli flakes etc. Then toss it alltogether and roast it in the oven until it was cooked. And then I’d eat it and it would be ok. Just ok.

And to be honest, because it was just ok. I’d probably have some sausages with it too!

I did two major things wrong. Firstly, I had all sorts of different veg in the same tray so they all cooked at different times and they were never all going to be nicely cooked. And, secondly, there was so much veg in the tray that it all went a bit wet and half the things were steamed rather than roasted.

So this is the opposite of that. There is just one vegetable. You can use different vegetables, but just do one vegetable (or maybe two) at a time. Cook one vegetable beautifully, rather than 17 vegetables poorly.

Less-is-more chermoula roast veg

Serves 4

For the spice mix
3 garlic cloves, crushed, grated or finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 teaspoons paprika
3 tablespoons preserved lemon, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty your preserved lemon is)
100ml olive oil

1 bunch of carrots (or beetroots, or squash)

1/2 tub of greek yoghurt, seasoned with salt and pepper
Roasted nuts or fresh herbs to garnish (parsley or coriander, sprigs or chopped)

1) Make the spice mix. This mix is adapted from an Ottolenghi “chermoula” aubergine recipe. Thanks Yotam. We use this spice mix all the time. We have jars of it in the fridge and pots of it in the freezer!

2) Prepare the vegetables. If you’re using carrots, wash and peel them. Cut them lengthways or into thick slices. Throw them into a large baking tray and pour over the spice mix (if you have too much you can store it in the fridge or freezer for later). Mix them well with your hands so the carrots are thoroughly covered. If in doubt, spread them out into a second baking tray. They need space if you want them to go lovely and brown around the edges.

3) Roast in a hot oven 180*C for 30 minutes or until the carrots are cooked through and all golden brown.

4) Spread some seasoned yoghurt on a plate, throw the roast veg over the top and then garnish with fresh herbs or roughly chopped roasted nuts, if you have some to hand.

5) Eat with a large hunk of bread and a green salad.

This variation is the same recipe made with golden beetroots rather than carrots