Whatever you’re celebrating, the best holiday moments happen around the dinner table. And we’ve got this year’s menu covered, with a table full of please-a-crowd dishes that put a modern twist on old faves. Here’s to keeping the festivities (and flavours) flowing.

Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Pistachio & Date Crumble

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Humble roasted carrots get an instant update when sprinkled with an addictive pistachio and date crumble. Pick carrots that are around the same size so they cook evenly. If your carrots are of different thicknesses, cut them lengthwise in half so they are roughly the same size.

Ingredients

½ cup shelled raw pistachios

3 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tbsp maple syrup or honey

¼ cup water or white wine

1 tsp ground cumin

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 lbs medium rainbow carrots, scrubbed and greens trimmed

4 medjool dates, pitted

½ cup packed baby arugula leaves

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

3 oz crumbled sheep’s milk feta cheese

 

How to Make

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place pistachios and pumpkin seeds on a rimmed baking tray and toast, stirring once or twice, until pistachios are fragrant and pumpkin seeds are toasted (6 to 8 minutes). Place baking tray aside and let pistachios and pumpkin seeds cool while roasting carrots.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, maple syrup, water (or wine), cumin and a good pinch of salt and pepper until well combined.

Add carrots to a baking dish large enough to allow carrots to lie mostly in a single layer. Drizzle carrots with oil mixture and toss until well coated. Cover baking dish with a lid or foil and roast carrots until just tender (about 25 to 30 minutes). Remove foil, toss carrots and continue roasting until water has evaporated and carrots are lightly caramelized (about 10 to 20 additional minutes).

While carrots are roasting, make crumble. Place toasted pistachios and pumpkin seeds on a cutting board along with medjool dates and roughly chop. Add arugula and lemon zest and continue to chop until arugula is in small pieces and mixture is well combined yet still has lots of texture.

Transfer warm carrots to a serving platter. Sprinkle pistachio and date crumble overtop before garnishing with a scattering of feta cheese. Enjoy while warm or at room temperature.

 

Eat With Your Eyes

The holidays are the perfect opportunity to break out those special pieces; here, colourful carrots are artfully served on Steelwood Designs’ Long and Lean charcuterie board, for $220. steelwooddesign.com

Recipe and food styling by Lawren Moneta
Prop styling by Nicole Sjostedt
Photography by Mark Gibbon

This recipe was originally published in the November/December 2023 issue of Western Living magazine.