Miso Glazed Carrots with Whipped Ricotta

chars.table

A post shared by @chars.table

On my Instagram I have often described myself as an ‘everything but the kitchen sink cook’ and normally I feel that it backfires. Like did I need to test my average piping skills last minute making a friends birthday cake the day of? Was it really necessary to throw 7 different spices onto those potatoes?

This is one of those rare moments when this didn’t backfire on me - I knew I wanted to make whipped ricotta and I had carrots in the fridge but other than that there was no plan. That being said, I don’t want to be one of those people who is like 'you want a recipe? Well actually you have to scroll for 15 minutes of childhood backstory before you get to the recipe’, so without further ado, here is the recipe for my Kitchen Sink Carrots (name still TBD).

Ricotta Ingredients:

1/2 gallon whole milk

2 tbsp white vinegar (or lemon juice or any other acid)

Pinch of salt

Carrots:

1 bunch of carrots, cut into half-inch circles

1 tbsp white miso

1 tbsp maple syrup

½ cup of water

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp canola oil (or any other high smoke point oil)

Assembly:

Pomegranate seeds

Lime zest

Red pepper flakes

Chili oil

Maldon, or other flaky salt

Ricotta:

1. Start by making the ricotta, I like to follow the Daniel Gritzer method (find that recipe on SeriousEats here) where he lets the curds sit and steep for 20 minutes at 185F - I always feel like the ricotta has a stronger taste this way. 

2. Use cheesecloth, or in my case, an Aesop bag and let the whey strain out (keep the whey, you’ll need it later!)

3. Once the ricotta is pretty solid and cooled down, transfer to a bowl bit enough to stir (you’re going to be using an immersion blender and adding whey so keep that in mind when picking your bowl size!)

4. Slowly add whey and immersion blend the ricotta until it has reached a smooth consistency. Check for salt and add some as needed

Cheese cloth ricotta vs Aesop ricotta (not sponsored!)

Carrots:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F

2. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet until shimmering, add carrots in one layer and let sear for 3-4 minutes per side

3. Meanwhile, stir together the miso and maple syrup until no lumps remain and then stir in the water. Give it a little taste, if you like it sweeter, add more maple syrup, if you like more umami, add more miso - it’s your dish and can lean either way depending on your preference!

4. When the second side of the carrots are browned, add the butter and swirl the dish. Once melted, add the miso-maple mixture and let cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

5. Once the 15 minutes are over, take the carrots out and, using a spoon, ladle the mixture on top of the carrots and place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes

Assemble:

1. Ladle a couple of spoonfuls of ricotta onto a plate and spread out into a layer

2. Drizzle chili oil onto the ricotta

3. Pile the carrots up high and garnish with pomegranate seeds, lime zest, and chili flakes. Finish with some flaky finishing salt, serve, and most importantly: ENJOY!

The beautiful finished product!

A quick note here - this method of cooking the carrots also works REALLY well on zucchini, a la Thomas Keller! To prep it I would just cut it in half lengthwise, cut a cross hatch pattern into them and them sprinkle with salt to sweat them for about 15 minutes. Start with searing the scored side down and leave them in the oven for a couple minutes longer and then follow the recipe as expected!

This recipe but with zucchini!