Vera’s Honey-Glazed Carrots

By Vera Gelder of Walk-About Acres

A simple but festive carrot dish, perfect for any holiday.

Ingredients

Instructions

I must stress that all of Vera's recipes are informal, "to taste" affairs, so use just as much of each ingredient as you need on any given occasion. As long as you have enough butter to allow the carrots to render some of their moisture, soften slightly, and brown, you're good to go, and can use more to taste if desired. Then dribble on enough honey while stirring to give the carrots a light, buttery glaze.
Use fresh carrots from the farmers' market if they're available, with the greens still attached. We didn't peel these certified organic carrots, just scrubbed them well. Trim all but a half-inch or so of the greens from the carrots, then cut the carrots lengthwise into quarters.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat, then add the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the carrots to the pan and cook for a few minutes, reducing the heat if necessary. Don't stir for the first few minutes to allow the carrots to brown a bit, then stir to turn the carrots and allow them to cook a couple of minutes on the other side. The carrots are ready for the honey glaze when they've browned a bit all over and are just slightly tender—or as tender as you'd like them to be.
Drizzle on the honey, stirring all the while, and turn down the heat if necessary since it's easy to burn this dish once the honey goes on. Stir the honey into the butter well and until carrots are well coated, then remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

This dish is perfect with fresh carrots of any size from garden or market. Leave baby carrots whole, and cut larger ones into vertical quarters. You can of course use supermarket carrots if that's what's available, but I'd probably peel whole carrots in that case. If using the nubby supermarket "baby carrots," cut them in half vertically or leave them whole.