recipes

Before I get started on this simple, delicious, and somewhat healthy side dish (that is perfect alongside turkey for a holiday meal), let’s just look at my box of produce below. Two giant bushels of giant carrots, pulled from the dirt that day, six apples, a bunch of celery, a giant yellow onion, and a piece of ginger root, all purchased for 8 euros. If I could find quality, local, cheap veggies and fruits like this in Boston, I would be a much healthier person. I am positively jealous at how cheap much of the produce in Ireland is! I love cooking here.

Not only was my produce haul cheap, but it was the epitome of fresh and tasty. For Thanksgiving, I decided to make carrots with a little extra flavor in the way of Bulmer’s Irish Cider (called Magner’s in America), ginger, and of course the beloved Kerrygold butter.

My ever-helpful husband got the job of cleaning and peeling all of these carrots.

And I chopped them into carrot coins, eating about every other one. As I chopped, family members stopped by to steal their own carrot snack. These were seriously sweet.

Once the carrots were chopped, I mixed them with a few tablespoons of finely chopped ginger, added them to a clay pot, and almost covered them in Irish cider and several pats of butter. I put them in an oven at around 400 and left them there until they were bubbling yet still a little bit firm. No one likes a mushy veggie! Well, the Irish seem to, but I am happy to help change that.

These carrots were super simple to prepare, and once they were in the oven I was able to get to all of the other dinner components. With a slight spice from the ginger, a sweetness from the cider, and a richness from the butter, they were an ideal accompaniment to the meal, and I will be making them again for Christmas dinner.

Did you make or have any new sides at Thanksgiving?

Did you enter to win a sweet wine party pack from Tapeña Wines?

Technorati Tags: dinner, Food, holidays, recipes, Vegetarian