Seasonal recipe No 48: Baby carrots with lemon & thyme

A simply delicious way of cooking new-season carrots from Henrietta Danvers, one of Camel CSA’s picking and packing volunteers.

Serves 6

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

Ingredients
750g baby carrots, tops off
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped finely
Juice of half a lemon
25g butter
500ml vegetable stock

Method
Scrub the carrots and leave them whole. Bring the stock to the boil in a heavy-bottomed pan, then add the butter and lemon juice. When the butter has melted, add the whole carrots and cook for five minutes. Take out the carrots with a slotted spoon and pour some of the liquid into another container (keep for soup). Retain about 1ml of stock in the bottom of the pan and reduce it over a high heat. Pop the carrots back into the pan to coat them with the remaining liquid. Sprinkle on the chopped thyme leaves and serve.

Update 

Glad we agree on this one: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s cookery column in the Guardian this weekend features – guess what – new-season carrot recipes.  “There’s not much that heralds the onset of summer as much as a new-season carrot – so get grating, chopping, roasting, even baking now,” he says.

We will, Hugh, we will…