Bourbon Glazed Carrots

Carrots are healthy. And if they are covered in Bourbon glaze they are delicious, too.
I don't drink. Cooking with spirits, wine and beer is a different story though. It all started with adding wine to a pan to scrape up chicken bits for gravy, then I started adding wine to pretty much every sauce I made. Recently I got tempted into making Joy the Baker's Bourbon Orange Coriander Barbecue Sauce. It was enjoyed by a crowd of about twelve on Fourth of July. It was quite tasty and it made me want to incorporate Maker's Mark or Jim Beam more often.

There is one major rule to cooking with alcoholic beverages and by that I don't mean cooking under the influence.

The rule is that you're not supposed to cook with anything that you wouldn't normally drink. Well, I don't drink alcohol. Period. But I do love cooking with it. Weird, you say? Not really. The alcohol boils down so much that you don't really taste it anymore. You only get the good parts of the alcoholic beverage. Good parts as in good tasting parts. Not the effects. Obviously.

So, this Bourbon Glaze is nice with carrots or broccoli. Squash might also work. And potatoes definitely will. I chose carrots because I thought it would look really nice to have orange carrots all shiny from the glaze.

This is a really easy recipe that can be prepared while letting the dough for garlic knots rise.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Start with some fresh organic carrots. If you get organic, you can leave the skin on and just wash them. If not you should peel them.

Now get some seasoning. Salt, Pepper, Olive oil, Paprika.

Sprinkle/drizzle everything on your carrots and toss the carrots to fully coat every single one of them. To avoid having to clean up an extra bowl I recommend tossing the carrots in the pan that you are going to use for roasting the carrots.

Roast the carrots in the oven for about 30 minutes. The time may vary depending on how soft or crunchy you want your carrots. Pierce them with a fork after about 25 minutes and see if you wan to continue roasting them. If you like your carrots very soft the roasting time may take as long as 45 minutes.

While the carrots are in the oven, prepare the glaze. Get out a small sauce pan aaaaand some Bourbon!

Add the Bourbon to your pan. Let it simmer on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Add the dark brown sugar and the butter.

Stir in the brown sugar and the butter until both are well incorporated.

Lower the heat and simmer for another three to four minutes. Allowing the glaze to thicken a little bit.
Stir in the orange juice. Until it is well combined. Season with a pinch of salt and let stand until the carrots are done.

When the carrots are roasted, take them out of the oven and pour the bourbon glaze over them. se tongues to toss and cover the carrots with the glaze.

Let them sit for only about a minute to allow the glaze to get absorbed a little by the carrots.

Serve immediately and possibly with some garlic knots. I did. They went well together. 

Guten Appetit!


Bourbon Glazed Carrots

- about 1 pound of organic carrots

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon pepper

- 1/2 teaspoon paprika

- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

- 1/2 cup of bourbon

- 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

- 2 tablespoons of butter

- 2 tablespoons of (preferably freshly squeezed) orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Toss the carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper, and paprika in a baking pan until well covered.

Roast carrots for about 30 minutes or until done to desirable tenderness.

While carrots are roasting, heat bourbon in a small sauce pan at medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the sugar and the butter and combine with the bourbon. Let simmer for another 5 minutes and add orange juice.

Season with a pinch of salt and lower heat. Keep sauce on low temperature until the carrots are done.

Pour over the roasted carrots and toss with tongues until all carrots are glazed over. Let sit for only a minute and then serve immediately as the carrots tend to cool down quickly.