Tender, buttery braised carrots and sweet, melting garlic cloves, served over comforting barley, for an easy vegetarian family-friendly dinner.
Do you “grow your own”? We have a small vegetable bed in our back garden, and in the summer we grow tomatoes, beans, courgettes, cucumbers and assorted other vegetables and herbs.
It’s quite fun, they taste amazing, and my daughter Kipper enjoys mucking about in the soil, watering the plants, and of course picking and eating the resulting produce.
Home grown dinners
A few years ago my Mum gave me a copy of the lovely book Home-grown Harvest, which is described as ‘delicious ways to enjoy your seasonal fruit and vegetables’. It is packed with fabulous and inspiring recipes and ideas. I’ve also enjoyed leafing through and admiring the terrific photography in the book, as well as cooking from it.
However, some of the recipes need… tweaking. Ahem.
Braised carrots – Adjust to your taste…
The recipe for these gorgeous braised carrots started life in the book as ‘roasted carrots with barley risotto’. I made it as written the first time, but some of the measurements seemed to be way out. In particular, their recipe only calls for 2 cloves of garlic between 4 people. What?! Half a clove each? The garlic is what makes this dish. The cloves becomes soft, sweet, mellow, buttery… You can mash them into the barley or just munch them straight from the pan. Only two garlic cloves? Wrong. As you can see, I’ve upped the amount slightly.
I’ve made one or two other changes too, and I’m sure I’ll keep tinkering. I do encourage you to check out the book though, if you get a chance. I’m looking forward to next summer’s harvest when I can try out more of the recipes in it.
Ingredients in butter braised carrots and garlic with barley
To make this delicious dish at home, you will need the following ingredients:
- pearl barley
- vegetable stock – from a cube/powder is fine!
- soy sauce – I like tamari
- carrots – of course!
- olive oil
- lots of garlic cloves! – or just use a whole bulb 🧄
- fresh thyme
- butter – so delicious!
Carrot fills?
As we were eating our yummy braised carrots, Kipper suddenly announced, “I LOVE carrot fills!”
What’s a carrot fill? asked DH and I in unison.
“What it is, is, you get carrots, and then you cut them up, and then you fill your mouth up with them. That’s carrot fills.”
Pretty sure she liked this. Definitely worth growing our own for!
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📖 Recipe
Butter-braised carrots and garlic with barley
Ingredients
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 150 g pearl barley
- 500 g carrots
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 garlic cloves – or just use a whole bulb
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 50 g butter – divided
Instructions
- 500 ml (2 cups) vegetable stock, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 150 g (¾ cups) pearl barleyBring the stock and soy sauce to the boil with an additional 500ml (2¼ cups) water in a large pan. Add the barley, and simmer, covered, for 45-60 minutes until well cooked.
- 500 g (17 ⅔ oz) carrotsMeanwhile, peel the carrots and cut into 5-8cm (2-3 inch) chunks. Then halve/quarter the pieces lengthwise depending on their thickness.
- 2 tbsp olive oilHeat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium-high flame, and cook the carrots for 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally, until they turn golden. (Ideally, you’ll fit all the carrot pieces in a single layer.)
- 12 garlic cloves – or just use a whole bulb, 50 g (⅕ cups) butter – divided, 2 sprigs fresh thymePeel the garlic and add the whole cloves to the pan, with the thyme, 2 tablespoon of the butter, a few grinds of black pepper, and 125ml (½ cup + 1 tbsp) of water.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes until the carrots and garlic cloves are soft and the liquid has reduced to a buttery syrup.
- 50 g (⅕ cups) butter – dividedDrain any excess liquid from the barley and stir in the remaining butter. Serve topped with the carrots and garlic, with the pan juices spooned over.
Nutrition
More delicious carrot recipes
If you love carrots, you’ll probably also enjoy:
Yummy barley recipes
If barley’s your thing, check out these delicious recipes:
- baked barley risotto with butternut squash
- delicious barley salad with creamy tahini dressing
- miso mushroom barley soup
Because it elevates the humble carrot into something incredible, I’ve entered this recipe into the ‘In my VEG BOX – carrots’ recipe challenge.
Nayna Kanabar (@SIMPLYF00D)
This dish looks hearty and delicious .Love the name carrot fills 🙂