Garlicky, Buttered Carrots
This is one of the few occasions when overcrowding the skillet is a good thing. These carrots are cooked in fat (schmaltz, olive oil, butter), with a pinch of something spicy (red-pepper flakes, cayenne, even hot paprika), sort of half-steaming on top of each other until just tender (no mushy carrots here, please). At the end, they are seasoned with a bit of finely grated or chopped garlic off the heat, which quiets the garlicky punchiness without extinguishing it entirely. Like a sandwich cut into triangles, the fact that the carrots are sliced into rounds makes them taste above-average delicious.
YIELD — 8 to 10 servings
TIME — 15 minutes
Ingredients
¼ cup chicken fat, olive oil or unsalted butter
¼ cup olive oil
Pinch of red-pepper flakes (optional)
2 bunches carrots, topped removed (about 1 pound), thinly sliced into rounds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
Directions
Melt chicken fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (If using butter, melt until lightly foamy and starting to brown, 2 to 3 minutes.) Add olive oil and red-pepper flakes, if using, swirling to bloom a bit in the butter. Add carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until carrots are just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. (They should be simply softened, like al dente pasta, not soft or mushy.)
Remove pan from heat, and add garlic, tossing to coat, and transfer to serving bowl.
Tips
The world needs kindness right now, so I won’t tell you that you can’t make these carrots without carrots. If you wanted to do use cauliflower or broccoli florets, radishes, turnips, fennel or parsnips, you can!
If raw garlic is not for you, slice it instead of grating it, and add it along with the red-pepper flakes to get a little golden brown before adding the carrots.
If you don’t like spiciness, leave out the red-pepper flakes, maybe substituting something like fennel or cumin seed.