Nigel Slater’s recipe for roast carrots, garlic and orzo

Nigel Slater

A fresh, simple and pretty dish that can easily be expanded to serve as many as you need
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Trim 450g of crisp, young carrots, then cut them in half from top to bottom. Put the carrots in a roasting tin, then pour over 3 tbsp of olive oil, season with salt and black pepper. Peel 6 cloves of garlic and add them to the tin.

Roast the carrots and garlic for about 20 minutes. Finely chop 5 spring onions. Add the spring onions to the tin and turn the carrots over, then continue cooking for a further 10 minutes. They are done when they are nicely toasted on both sides.

While the carrots are roasting, bring 1 litre of water or vegetable stock to the boil. (I often bring out the powdered stock for this.) When it comes to the boil, add 200g of orzo and let it cook for about 10 minutes until soft and silky. Drain the pasta, with the exception of 3 tbsp of liquid, then stir into the roast carrots and garlic together with the cooking liquid.

Roughly chop about 20 medium-sized mint leaves and 12 basil leaves. Crumble 150-200g of feta into the herbs, then add 2 tbsp of pumpkin seeds. Scatter the herb and feta mixture over the carrots and orzo and divide between 2 plates. Enough for 2

 This is one of those recipes where you can substitute rice for the pasta. I would use brown basmati here. The nuttiness is good with the sweetness of the carrots.

See also  Nigel Slater’s green vegetable crumble, and cucumber, microgreens and wasabi salad

 The crunch of some sort of seed or nut is welcome with this dish. If pumpkin seeds aren’t your thing, try cashew nuts toasted and salted.

 You can easily veganise this by substituting fried mushrooms in place of the feta.

Follow Nigel on Instagram @NigelSlater

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